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QUARTERLY JOURNAL

OF THE

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON,

EDITED BY

THE ASSISTANT-SECRETARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

VOLUME THE FIFTH.

1849.

PART THE FIRST.

Gy”
‘
‘

PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL Willie
Lone EL Ty) Os
&
LONDON: ENS
l ws”
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND L ANSINAL

PARIS :—FRIED. KLINCKSIECK, 11 RUE DE LILLE; BAUDRY, 9 RUE DU COQ,
PRES LE LOUVRE; LEIPZIG, T. O. WEIGEL.

NEW YORK :—WILEY AND PUTNAM, 161 BROADWAY.
SOLD ALSO AT THE APARTMENTS OF THE SOCIETY.

MDCCCXLIX,

List

OF THE

OFFICERS

OF THE

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

aves

Exectep Fresruary 1849.

PrestVent.
Sir Charles Lyell, F.R.S. & L.S.

Gice-Prestvents.

G. B. Greenough, Esq. F.R.S. & L.S.
Leonard Horner, Esq. F.R.S. L. & E.
G. A. Mantell, LL.D. F.R.S. & L.S.
Sir R. I. Murchison, G.C.St.S. F.R.S. & L.S.
Secretaries.

William John Hamilton, Esq. Pres. Geog. Soe.
John Carrick Moore, Esq. M.A.

Forciqn Secretary.
C. J. F. Bunbury, Esq. F.L.S.

Treasurer.
John Lewis Prevost, Esq.

COUNEIL. -

J. S. Bowerbank, Esq. F.R.S. Lieut.-Col. J. E. Portlock, R.E. F.R.S.
W. B. Carpenter, M.D. F.R.S. Samuel Peace Pratt, Esq. F.R.S. & L.S.
Charles Darwin, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. Prof. A. C. Ramsay.
aH ee T. De la Beche, F.R.S. & L.S. D. Sharpe, Esq. F.L.S.

ir P. Grey Egerton, Bart. M.P. F.R.S. The Very Rey. the Dean of W i
Prof. E. Forbes, F.R.S. & L.S. DDLERS £1
Capt. Henry James, R.E. S. V. Wood, Esq.

Lyon Playfair, M.D.

Assistant-Secretarp.
Professor Nicol, F.R.S.E.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

BowERBANK, J.S., Esq. Ona Siliceous Zoophyte, Alcyonites para-
Siticum ...... Rie er atines ees sae ean te eee ee were ee

Bropig, Rev. P. B. On the Discovery of a Dragon-fly and a new
species of Leptolepis in the Upper Lias near Cheltenham ......

Brown, Richard, Esq. On Erect Sigillarize with conical tap roots,
found in the roof of the Sydney Main Coal, in the Island of Cape
ee Airs esta vis.o st pipe cine Eb e siscc ee reeks seb es sees ts

Bunsury, C. J. F., Esq. On Fossil Plants from the Anthracite for-
Summer fe AIDS Of SAVOY wc. cece tc ett es ye dec uaeure ds

Casor, Edward, Esq., and M. Desor. On the Tertiary and more re-
cent formations in the Island of Nantucket ............-0008;

Davis, Major, H. Notes on the Souffriére of St. Vincent ......
Dawes, J. 8., Esq. Remarks on the Structure of the Calamite ..

Dawson, J. W., Esq. On the Colourmg matter of Red Sandstones
and White Beds associated with them .........cccceveceeees

SCALE elo (deh nella iid Sickel c WWis ol ols é le ew ldiel so 0) 6T wie ele eles Fie ee ode we evs

De La Becue, Sir Henry T., President. Anniversary Address in
LAD crete fi iid dd cna ati w bo clas dso e' cesitie dp

Desor, M., and E. Casot, Esq. On the Tertiary and more recent
formations in fle Island. of Nantucket: ............2.62200008

Ecerton, Sir Philip Grey, Bart. Palichthyologic Notes. No. 2.—
On the affinities of the Genus Platysomus.........0000000000

FarReER, J. W., Esq. Notes on Ingleborough Cave ............
GesneER, Dr. A. On the Gypsum of Nova Scotia ..............

Haut, James, Esq. On the supposed impression in Shale of the
Bory pacts oar Oi hocerda shits tiie tty he wsteics ew ce odie we

HamiI Ton, John William, Esq. Observations on the Geology of
Asia Minor, referrmg more particularly to portions of Galatia,
tA AMAL) RIDIN OID Is 608, oa nce oo ohn aie ap oth nos acgiep e,cope wens

LonspALE, William, Esq. Notes on Fossil Zoophytes found in the
Deposits described by Dr. Fitton in his Memoir entitled, A Strati-
graphical Account of the Section from Atherfield to Rocken End. .

Lussock, Sir John, Bart. On Change of Climate resulting from
m@renange io the Earth's axis of rotation... .........0ccccessees

Page

319

- 354

130

340
53
30

25
335
Xvi
340

329
49
129

107

362

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Lye.t, Sir Charles. Noteson some recent Footprints on Red Mud
in Nova Scotia, collected by W. B. WessTER of Kentville

MANTELL, Gideon A., Esq. A brief Notice of Organic Remains re-
cently discovered in the Wealden formation..........+.eeeee:

Moorg, John C., Esq. On some Fossiliferous Beds in the Silurian
Rocks of Wigtonshire and Ayrshire ........ sees e eee eeneee

Notice on the Occurrence of Eocene Freshwater Shells at
Beaulieu, Langley, &c., in Hampshire ...........-..++seeees

Morris, John, Esq. On Neritoma, a fossil genus of Gasteropodous
Mollusks allied-to: Wertia .< oils: ACR i Ras we cd Oc a oe ae

Murcuison, Sir R. I. On the Geological Structure of the Alps,
Apennines and Carpathians, more especially to prove a Transition
from Secondary to Tertiary Rocks, and the Development of Eocene
Deposits im Soughern’ Monape .’ 65) oo tp: whi. « ass ag totem ae

NAUMANN, Professor. On the Development of the Permian System
In SHON POA, 02 MOOS p-eQWGORe as) ise... BSUS, cee

Nicot, James, Esq. Observations on the Recent Formations in the
vicinity of Pidinbarebirs Acre o.6 + = c.0% ate x gyetadd eve sbeeets wecare crete

OweEN, Professor. Notes on Remains of Fossil Reptiles discovered
by Prof. H. Rogers in Greensand formations of New Jersey ....

PRESTWICH, Joseph, Jun., Esq. On the position and general cha-
racters of the Strata exhibited im the coast section from Christ-
church Harbour to’ Poole Harbour) 2) .osseiee et ae. eee

——. On some Fossiliferous Beds overlying the Red Crag at Chil-
lesford near Orford, Suffolk...... CRIT EN. ot a wie HUES, . MEMBNSY

SALTER, J. W., Esq. Note on Fossils from the Limestone on the
Stincher River, and from the Slates of Loch Ryan ............

SAuL, William D., Esq. An Elucidation of the Changes of Tempe-
perature and the Levels of the Oceanic waters upon the Earth’s
RUTIACE 5 5 don since s bs «006 20 8 t moe cant eee

SHARPE, Daniel, Esq. On Slaty Cleavage (second communication).

On the Geology of the neighbourhood of Oporto, including
the Silurian Coal and Slates of Vallongo .............eee0ce:

——. On Tylostoma, a proposed genus of Gasteropodous Mollusks.
SmirH, James, Esq., of Jordan Hill. On Scratched Boulders ....

Sommer, Dr. Ferd. von. A sketch of the Geological Formation and
Physical Structure of Western Australia............0e0eeeeees

TcHIHATCHEFF, M. P. de. Notice of Researches in Asia Minor..

Tomson, T. G. Ringler, Esq. On the position in which Shells are
fourit in) thie Hed! Cae le ilid eee on ben ee Ue ee eee

Weston, Charles H., Esq. Further Observations on the Geology
of Ridaway- near Weymouth ooo dig (S51 LT, as

Page

7
111

LIST OF THE FOSSILS FIGURED AND DESCRIBED
IN THIS VOLUME.

[In this list, those fossils, the names of which are printed in Roman type, have
been previously described. ]

Name of Species. Formation. Locality. Page.

Piants. (1.)

Sigillaria alternans, stump. Wood-| Coal-measures.| Sydney, C. Breton.| 355
casey tae stem and bark. Wood-} Coal-measures.| Sydney, C. Breton.| 356
wt ee ical tap roots. Wood-| Coal-measures.| Sydney, C. Breton.| 357, 358
pe? Pahenianel stump.| Coal-measures.| Sydney, C. Breton.| 359
Woodcut, f. 9.

ZoopuyTa. (12.)

Graptolites folium. Pl. i. f. 5....... Silurian ...... Loch Ryan.........{ 15

OS oS aa RY a Silurian ...... Loch Ryan. icscen. 16
— ramosus. Pl.i.f. 7. .........| Silurian ...... Loch Ryan......... 16
— tenia. Pl. i. f. B....... cease Silurian ...... Wigtonshire ...... 16

Semis Ered. 5° 96Gi'. oc)..s03% Silurian ....... Wigtonshire ...... 16

f. 5-11.

Cyathopora? elegans. P).iv.f.12-15.| Greensand ...| Reigate ............ 83
Siphodictyum gracile. Pl.v.f.16-23.) Greensand ...| Atherfield ......... 94
Chisma furcillatum. Pl. v.f. 24-28.) Greensand ...| Atherfield ......... 98
Aleyonites parasiticum. PI. viii. ... ? ? 319

EcHINODERMATA. (1.)

Pentremites. Woodcuts. Part 2.p.9.| Carboniferous | Alabama....,....... Pt. ii. 9.
limestone.

Mouuusca. (14.)

Pleurotomaria Moore. Pi. i. f. 1.| Silurian ...... AQTSDITE o05h ». 0) 50 14
Murchisonia scalaris. P\.i.f. 2....| Silurian ...... AGTSDIEC:.. con vncses 14
Euomphalus? Phi weirdo hscsP Silurian | si. AYISHIFE 51 0.3.000. 14
Orthis confinis.. Pl. i. f..4......00...| Silurian | ...... ALVESDITO 41 .i/cU 15
noctilio. Pl. vi. f.2a,6,c. ...| Silurian ...... Wallop go). ccsesscsoee 151
—— Miniensis. Pl. vi. f. 3a, d. ...| Silurian ...... Vallongo’...s.....00s 152
Duriensis. Pl. vi. f. 4 a, 6. ...| Silurian ......) Vallongo.........+0. 152
Lusitanica. P\. vi. f. 5a, 6. ...| Silurian ...... Vallon gg ....43. cs sts 152
Orthoceras vagans. Pl. vi. f. 6a, 6.| Silurian ...... ValONPO coi csice.css 153
Neritoma sinuosa. Woodcut, f. 1.| Portlandoolite.| Swindon............ 334
Tylostoma Torrubie. P\. ix. f. 1,2.) Subcretaceous.} Portugal .........++. 378
punctatum, P1.ix.f.3,4, 4a,46.| Subcretaceous.| Portugal ............ 378
globosum, PI. ix. f.5,6. ...... Subcretaceous.| Portugal ..........+. 379

—— ovatum. PI. ix.'f. 7,8... Subcretaceous.| Portugal ............ 379

Name of Species. Formation.

Reptiuia. (5.)

Crocodilus basifissus, vertebree. P]. x.| Greensand
fa ee

basitruncatus, vertebree. Pl. x.| Greensand
£2324,

Mosasaurus Maximiliani, vertebre.| Greensand
Pr xe. 1).

Macrosaurus levis, vertebra. Pl. xi.| Greensand
f. 1-6.

Hyposaurus Rogersii. Pl. xi. f. 7-10.| Greensand

Pisces. (1.)

Platysomus macrurus, jaw and teeth.| Magnesian
Woodcut, f. 1. limestone.

Crustacea. (1.)

Illenus Lusitanicus. Plate vi. f. 1...| Silurian

InsEcTA. (2.)

Libellula (Heterophlebia) dislocata.| Lias ......... *
Pleat
Fragments of wings of Coleoptera...) Wealden ......

Locality.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

To face
Piate 1.—Fossils from the Silurian Rocks of Ayrshire and Wigtonshire,
to illustrate Mr. Moore’s paper on that district .........seeeeseee. p. 16

2.—Fossil Dragon Fly, Lidellula (Heterophlebia) dislocata, to illus-
trate a paper by the Rev. P. B. Brodie ....secses.ssssoeeeseeeee ove §=6. 3

3.—Fragments of Insect wings, to illustrate Dr. Mantell’s paper on the
organic remains of the Wealden ....... Glin ede tie dl easiqnee Ui saiese 39

4, 5.—Fossil Zoophytes, to illustrate Mr. Lonsdale’s paper on Fossil
PIGGDHVECS 1POMd TAEMELNEIO. coum casas ques swevirsseddaseseevecec onsesies 102

6.—Fossils from the Lower Silurian slates of Vallongo, to illustrate
Mr. Sharpe’s paper on the Geology of Oporto .......csssseeeeeeess 150

7.—Sections across the Hoher-Sentis, by M. A. E. Von der Linth, to
illustrate Sir R. I. Murchison’s paper on the structure of the

Une ne Ne amar cua macau ea eponeas Viina duh enas caseeaniensess ctys cents 312
8.—To illustrate Mr. J. S. Bowerbank’s paper on a Siliceous Zoo-
DUVLC, AlCYONILES PAVARLICUME seovecsscsecndessserecvecsaccas eeaebens 319

9.—To illustrate Mr. D. Sharpe’s paper on Tylostoma, a proposed
genus of Gasteropodous Mollusks.............sescsseovccscsceeevecs 378

10, 11.—To illustrate Professor Owen’s Notes on the Remains of
Fossil Reptiles from the Greensand formations of New Jersey.. 383

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GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, FEB. 16, 1849.
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL.

In presenting to the Geological Society of London their Annual Re-
port for the past year, the Council have the satisfaction of announ-
cing, that notwithstanding the late pecuniary embarrassment by which
they regret to find that almost all the scientific bodies of London
have been more or less materially affected, the numbers of this So-
ciety have only been reduced by 3 during that period.

The following statement shows the changes which have taken
place during the past year: new Fellows elected, who have paid their
admission-fees, 17 ; Fellows elected in former years, who have paid
this year, 5; Foreign Member, 1; total 23. On the other hand,
there have been deaths, including one Foreign Member and one Ho-
norary Member, 17; and resignations 9, total 26. Deducting the
increase 23 from the decrease 26, we have a diminution of 3, thereby
reducing the numbers of the Society during the year 1848 from 897
to 894.

The excess of income over expenditure during the past year has
been £238 7s. 5d. This has been mainly owing to the diminution
of expense in the publication of the Journal, amounting to nearly
£100; to the office of Curator having been vacant during nine
months, making a difference of £97 10s.; and to the receipt of
an unexpected sum of £46 for Transactions, in consequence of the
great reduction in their price.

The number of living compounders at the close of 1847 was 130;
it has been increased during the past year to 131 ; during this period
one compounder has died, and two Fellows have compounded, whose
compositions, together with one received in 1847 too late to be funded
during that year, have been invested in the funds. The total amount
received from these 131 compounders has been £4126 10s. The

VOL. V.—PART I. a

il ANNIVERSARY MEETING.

amount of Stock held by the Society at the close of 1848 was
£3563 15s. 1ld. against £3453 14s. 7d., the amount held at the
close of 1847; and its estimated value on the 31st of December
1848 (Consols being 89) was £3172.

The Council having observed that a large stock of the Transactions
still remained unsold, and believing that by a greater diffusion of the
information contained in them, they would materially add to the use-
fulness and prosperity of the Society, they have resolved that all ex-
cess over fifty copies of the volumes of the second series of the Trans-
actions, including Vol. VII., should be reduced in price one-half be-
low the already reduced prices, both to the Fellows and to the public ;
they have also resolved that all excess beyond fifty copies of the Pro-
ceedings should be reduced to one-fourth of the former price. By
these means they trust that much geological information will be
distributed, that the funds of the Society will be benefited, and
their shelves cleared of a heavy incumbrance.

They have further to announce the completion of the fourth volume
of the Journal and the publication of the first part of Vol. V. They
have also resolved, considering the inconvenience attending the prac-
tice of making the publication of the Journal depend on an annual
vote, and also considering that the experience of the last three years
justifies the propriety of contemplating the present mode of publi-
cation as a permanent arrangement, that the publication of the
Quarterly Journal be henceforth regularly contmued without any
annual resolution.

The attention of the Council has been especially directed to the
Museum Report of last year, the principal portion of which was
printed and circulated in the fifteenth number of the Journal. The
recommendations and suggestions embodied in that Report have on
various occasions been carefully discussed by the Council, and some
of them have already been acted upon. In the Foreign Collection
the Council have resolved that many of the inorganic specimens
should be removed, thereby gaining space for the admission of
valuable organic specimens, hitherto retamed in the crypts for want
of space; and they have the satisfaction of stating, that m conse-
quence of the zeal and activity of some of their members, who have
voluntarily offered their services for this purpose, the want of a Cu-
rator has in this respect not been experienced.

The important question of the arrangement of the whole Foreign
Collection has not yet been taken into consideration. Some of the
arguments in favour of the various systems proposed will be found
in the Reports of Mr. Lonsdale and of Professor Forbes, appended
to the Museum Report of last year.

Referrmg to their Report of last year, the Council regret that
the same causes which then induced them to reduce the expenditure
incurred in the care of the Museum should still continue in opera-
tion; they have consequently not considered it expedient to appoint
a Curator for this year; they trust however that the state of their
finances will shortly enable them to make such arrangements as will
ensure the due care and superintendence of the Collections, without:

ANNUAL REPORT. ii

which they are well-aware the value and importance of the Museum
must in a great measure be lost.

It will be remembered that it was stated in the Annuat Report of
last year that the Council had resolved that the balance of the pro-
ceeds of the Donation Fund should be appropriated to making avail-
able to science the fossils which had been received from the Cape of
Good Hope in 1844 from Mr. Geddes Bain, and that a Committee
was appointed to carry out this object. A portion of the sum placed
at their disposal has been accordingly expended ; and the Committee
having reported that they did not recommend any further expendi-
ture on the fossils in question, the Council have resolved that the
remaining portion of the Award (amounting to £27 2s.) be granted
to M. Alcide d’Orbigny, for the purpose of aiding him in the pub-
lication of his ‘ Paléontologie Francaise,’ on account of the value of
that work to British geologists.

In conclusion, they have to announce that they have awarded the
Wollaston Palladium Medal for the present year to Mr. Joseph Prest-
wich, jun., for his papers communicated to the Geological Society of
London, and more especially for those relating to the tertiary deposits
of the London and Hampshire districts ; and that they have resolved
that the balance of the proceeds of the Donation Fund for the pre-
sent year be granted to Mr. Lonsdale, in aid of the publication of
his work on Fossil Corals.

Report of the Museum and Library Committee.

No important addition has been made to the British Collection
since the last Annual Report, and the arrangement remains in the
same condition as at that period, with the exception of a consider-
able number of specimens of the Azoic Rocks which have been re-
moved from the drawers.

The Foreign Rock Specimens are in progress of examination and
re-arrangement by a Committee appointed for that purpose, with the
view of admitting of the exhibition of a greater number of the Fo-
reign Organic Remains. As the labours of that Committee are not
yet concluded, it is unnecessary to offer any further remarks on that
subject.

Library Report.

In the course of the last year the Library has been increased by
the donation of upwards of 150 volumes and pamphlets; among
these donations may be noted, as especially valuable, more than
100 Charts and Plans and Nautical works published by the Dépot
de la Marine of France ; Hermann von Meyer’s work on the Saurians
of the Muschelkalk ; the Paleeontology of New York, presented by
the State of New York ; Memoirs, Maps and Sections of the Geolo-
gical Survey of Great Britain; Haidinger’s Report on the Proceed-
ings of the Friends of Natural Science in Vienna ; the Physical Atlas
by Berghaus and Johnston, presented by J. W. Johnston, Esq. ; the
Annales des Mines, completing our series to the present time ; and

iv ANNIVERSARY MEETING.

Humboldt’s Essay on the Kingdom of New Spam, presented by
Alfred Tylor, Esq.

Your Cémmittee strongly recommend that the Annals and Maga-
zine of Natural History be added to the periodicals taken in by the
Society, and they would especially direct attention to the list of de-
siderata appended to the Annual Report of 1848.

Signed, G. A. MANnTELL.
J.S. BowERBANK.
13th February, 1849. RoserT AUSTEN.

Comparative Statement of the Number of the Society at the close of
the years 1847 and 1848.

Dee. si, 1847: Dec. 31, 1848.

Compounders; outs cs. oe ore atl Ome ene rs
UCSC EMUSA 2, cents aiefolets es state ee DAS, vo at. shes =: 233
INOn-TesidenES,, 2% 0 ons <iocel as AAD. eteve se dias 457
823 821
Honorary Members...... 20 Fi east 19
Poreien Members... - 50 .\- | ea oP 50
Personages of Royal-Blood 4—74 ...... 4—73
897 894

General Statement explanatory of the Alteration in the Number of
Fellows, Honorary Members, Sc. at the close of the years 1847
and 1848.

Number of Compounders, Residents and Non-residents,

December al USAC. acces sees a ates Pen 4S Goi Seles (a ee 823
Add, Fellows elected during former | Residents...... 3
years, and paid in 1848 .... f Non-residents.. 2
[=
Fellows elected, and paid, during | Residents...... 8
NG 48 rents ns heat oa Sao Non-residents .. 9
—17
— 22
845
Deduct, Compounder deceased ........ 1
Residents Spumeeer othe deaseat oislgepcec ee a ae 5
Mon ereaten te stl wal hacutcatcgdl B ctstass ies 9
eS Gh ities Mess cui dpi d.¢ 9

Total number of Fellows, 31st Dec. 1848, as above .. 821

ANNUAL REPORT. Vv

Number of Honorary Members, Foreign Members, and 74
Personages of Royal Blood, December 31, 1847. . i
Add, Foreign Member elected in 1848 .........-.-7. ]
79
Deduct, Foreign Member deceased ...... dete injsversis l
Honorary Member _,, Eine « Wien wiels «wie 1

2
Asabove 73

Number of Fellows liable to Annual Contribution at the close of 1848,
with the Alterations during the year.

Number at the close of 1847 . ra:
Add, Elected in former years, and paid i in 1848........ 3
Pipered: aud. Wald Wi VOLS ee ois ne sie dw osess 8
Non-residents who became Resident ............ 3
262
NR CCCA ME cc ip c-cd <span, - die ooo .e ene oe 5
bcc a Sy ea ee a ee 9
Compounded .. Be FT oe ts ee Sa
Became Non-resident ...........0. 7148
Ditto iw former years 6... s ew see 6 }
— 29

As above 233

DecraseD FELLows.
Compounder (1).
William Twining, M.D.

Residents (5).

Robert Bingley, Esq. Lieut.-Col. Brandreth.
Mr. Justice Bosanquet. Marquis of Bute.
G. F. Richardson, Esq.

Non-residents (9).

E. T. Artis, Esq. Henry Leach, Esq.
G. T. Fox, Esq. Edmund Lomax, Esq.
Rev. John Hailstone. Edw. Mammatt, Esq.
Sir T. D. Lauder, Bart. James Watt, Esq.

W. J. West, Esq.
Honorary Member (1).
George Cumberland, Esq.

Foreign Member (1).
J. J. Berzelius, M.D.

vi ANNIVERSARY MEETING.

The following Persons were elected Fellows during the year 1848.

February 23rd.—William Talbot Aveline, Esq., of the Geological
Survey of Great Britain.

March 22nd.—Nathaniel Beardmore, Esq., Great College Street,
Westminster; John R. M°Clean, Esq., Great George Street,
Westminster; Robert Hunter Semple, Esq., Torrmgton Square ;
William Wills, Esq., Birmingham; Capt. R. T. W. L. Bricken-
den, Cuckfield, Sussex ; and H. W. Freeland, Esq., Duke Street,
St. James’s.

April 5th.—James MacAdam, Esq., Royal Academic Institution,
Belfast ; and Robert William Mylne, Esq., Carlton Chambers,
Regent Street.

19th.—Sir John William Lubbock, Bart., St. James’s Place.

May 3rd.—John Dorrington, Esq., Linton, Cambridgeshire.

17th.—J. R. Logan, Esq., Simgapore; and Rev. John Thorn-

ton, Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire.

3lst.—H. Wedgwood, Esq., Woking, Surrey; and Thomas
Brown, Esq., Cushendun House, Antrim.

November 1Ist.— Lieut. Douglas Galton, Royal Engineers.

-————. 29th.—Charles Timins, Esq., Oxford Villas, Cheltenham.

December 13th.—Thomas Josiah Laing, Esq., Hillmgdon Grange,
Hillingdon ; and Charles Brumell, Esq., Carlton Chambers, Re-
gent Street.

The following Person was elected a Foreign Member.
February 2nd.—James Hall, Esq., New York, United States.

The following Donations to the Museum have been received since
the last Anniversary.

British Specimens.

Plagiostoma Hermanni, from the Lower Lias, Warwickshire ; pre-
sented by J. W. Kirshaw, Esq., F.G.S.

Specimen of Pentacrinite ; presented by E. H. Bunbury, Esq., M.P.,
EGo8.

Specimens from the Mountain Limestone, Alnwick ; presented by
George Tate, Esq., F-G.S.

Fossils from the Lias and Oolite near Cheltenham ; presented by the
Rey. P. B. Brodie, F.G.S.

Cast of Humerus of Mastodon; presented by H. Ball, Esq.
Cast of Head of Crocodilus Spenceri, from Isle of Sheppey ; pre-
sented by Prof. J. Tennant, F.G.S.

ANNUAL REPORT. vil

CHARTS AND Maps.

104 Charts and Plans and 8 Nautical works in 12 volumes, published
by the Dépot de la Marine ; presented by M. le Directeur Général

du Dépot de la Marine.

The Maps and Sections, forming a continuation of the Geological
Survey of the United Kingdom ; presented by Sir H. T. De la
Beche, on the part of Her Majesty’s Government.

The Physical Atlas, by Henry Berghaus, LL.D. and A. Keith John-
ston, Parts 1—10; presented by the publishers, Messrs. W. and

A. K. Johnston.

Paleontological Map of the British Islands, by A. K. Johnston.
From the Sketches and Notes of Prof. E. Forbes, 2 sheets ; pre-
sented by Prof. E. Forbes, F.G.S.

The following List contains the Names of all the Persons and
Public Bodies from whom Donations to the Library and Museum

were received during the past year.

Academy of Sciences of Paris.

American Academy of Arts and
Sciences.

American Philosophical Society.

Athenzeum Club..

Athenzeum, Editor of.

Austin, Messrs. Thomas.

Ball, H., Esq.

Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club.

Binney, E. W., Esq.

Boston Society of Natural His-
tory.

Botfield, B., Esq., F.G.S.

Brayley, E. W. jun., Esq., F.G.S.

British Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science.

Brodie, Rev. P. B., F.G.S.

Bunbury, E. H., Esq., M.P.,
F.G.S.

Carpenter, W., M.D., F.G.S.

Chantereaux, M. Bouchard.

Chemical Society of London.

Corbaux, Miss F.

Coxe, L. 8., Esq... F.G:S.

Cumming, Rev. J. G., M.A,
F.G.S.

D’Archiac, M. le Vicomte, For.
Mem. G.S.

Davidson, M. M. Th.

Daussy, M.

De la Beche, Sir H.T., Pres. G.S.

Dép6t Général de la Marine de
France. :

Dillwyn, L. W., Esq., F.G.S.

D’Orbigny, M. Alcide, For. Mem.
G.S

leont: Prof. A. H., For. Mem.
Gs:

East India Company, Hon.
Elie de Beaumont, M. L., For.
Mem. G.S.

Favre, M. Alphonse.

Fischer de Waldheim, G., M.D.,
For. Mem. G.S.

Fitton, W. H., M.D.

Fligel, Dr. J. G.

Forbes, Prof. E., F.G.S.

Frapolh, M. L.

Genéve, Société de Physique de.
Geological Society of Dublin.
Geological Society of France.

vull ANNIVERSARY MEETING.

Geological Survey of Great Bri-
tain.

Goppert, Prof.

Greenough, G.B., Esq.,V.P.G.S.

Grey, Right Hon. Earl.

Guyot, M. A.

Haidinger, Herr W.

Hall, James, Esq., F.G.S.

Hausmann, Prof. J. F. L., For.
Mem, G.S.

Horticultural Society.

Imperial Society of Moscow.
Indian Archipelago Journal, Edi-
tor of.

Jobert, M. A. C. G.
Johnston, Messrs. W. and A. K.
Joly, M. M.N.

King, Capt. P., R.N.

King, William, Esq.

Kirshaw, J. W., Esq., F.G.S.
Koninck, M. L. de.

L’Ecole des Mines.

Leeds Philosophical Society.

Leidy, Joseph, M.D.

Leymerie, M.

Liverpool, Literary and Philoso-
phical Society of.

Lubbock, Sir J. W., Bt., F.G.S.

Mantell,G. A., LL.D., V.P.G.S.

Martins, M. Ch.

M ‘Coy, F., Esq.

Mitchell, Lieut.-Col. Sir T. L.,
F.G.S.

Nattali, M. A.

New York Lyceum of Natural
History.

Northumberland, Natural His-
tory Society of.

Nyst, M. H.

Paleeontographical Society.

Philadelphia Academy of Natu-
ral Sciences.

Portlock, Lieut.-Col., F.G.S.

Pratt, 8: P., Esq. F:G.S.

Quetelet, M. A.

Ramsay, Prof. A. C., F.G.S.

Reeve and Co., Messrs.

Richardson, Joshua, Esq., F.G.S.

Rouquairol, M.

Royal Academy of Belgium.

Royal Academy of Munich.

Royal Agricultural Society of
England.

Royal Asiatic Society.

Royal Asiatic Soc.,China Branch.

Royal Geographical Society.

Royal Geological Society of Corn-
wall.

Royal Irish Academy.
Silliman, Prof., M.D., For. Mem.
G.S

Sismonda, E., M.D.

Smith, Rev. J. Pye, D.D., F.G.S.

Smith, J. Toulmin, Esq.

Sowerby, G. B., Esq.

St. Petersburg, Imperial Aca-
demy of.

Strickland, H. E., Esq., F.G.S.

Swedenborg Association.

Tate, George, Esq., F.G.S.
Tennant, Prof. J., F.G.S.
Twining, William, M.D., F.G.S.
Tylor, A., Esq., F.G.S.
Tyneside Naturalists’ Field Club.

Vaudoise Society.
Von Helmersen, Herr G.
Von Volborth, Dr. A.

West Riding of Yorkshire, Geo-
logical and Polytechnic So-
ciety of the.

Zoological Society.

ANNUAL REPORT. 1X

List of Pavers read since the last Anniversary Meeting,
February 18th, 1848.
1848.

Feb. 23rd.—Additional Remarks on the Deposits in New Zealand
containing the remains of Struthious Birds, by G. A. Mantell,
PD. F:GB.

On the Geology of Ridgway, near Weymouth, by -
C. H. Weston, Esq., F.G.S.

March 8th.—On the Position in the Cretaceous Series of Beds con-
taining Phosphate of Lime, by R. A. C. Austen, Esq., F.G.S.
——-—_ On the presence of Phosphoric Acid in the Subordinate

Members of the Chalk Formation, by J. C. Nesbit, Esq., F.G.S.

Outline of the Geology of the Salt-field of Cheshire,
by G. W. Ormerod, Esq., F.G.S.

March 22nd.—On the Internal Structure of Halonia, by J. S.
Dawes, Esq., F.G.S.

Observations on the Cystidea and the Crinoidea gene-
rally, by Major Thomas Austin, F.G.S.

—————— On Fossil Bones from the Crag, Suffolk, by John
Wiggins, Esq., F.G.S.

April 5th.—Sketch of the Structure of part of North Wales, by J. B.
Jukes, Esq., F.G.S., and Alfred Selwyn, Esq.

Sketch of the Structure of part of North and South
Wales and Shropshire, by Prof. A. C. Ramsay, F.G.S., and W. T.
aAveline, Esq., F.G.S.

April 19th.—Palichthyologic Notes, Supplemental to the Works of
Prof. Agassiz, by Sir P. G. Egerton, Bart., M.P., F.G.S.

On the Transportal of Erratic Boulders from a lower

to a higher level, by Charles Darwin, Esq., F.G.S.

and May 17th.—On Scratched Boulders, by James
Smith, Esq., of Jordan Hill, F.G.S.

May 3rd.—On the Permian System of Saxony, by Prof. Naumann ;
communicated by Sir R. I. Murchison, F.G.S.

——_— On Changes in the Earth’s Axis of Rotation, by Sir
John Lubbock, Bart., F.G.S.

On Changes of Temperature, &c. on the Earth, by
W. D. Saull, Esq., F.G.S.

May 17th.—On the Silurian Rocks of Wigtonshire, by J. C. Moore,
Esq., Sec. G.S.

On the Fossils from Wigtonshire, by J. W. Salter,

Esq., F.G.S.

———— On recent Formations near Edinburgh, by James

Nicol, Esq., F.G.S.

x ANNIVERSARY MEETING.

1848.
May 31st.-—-On the Colouring Matter of Red Sandstones, by J. W.
Dawson, Esq. ; communicated by the President.
On a Dragon Fly found in the Lias, by the Rev. P.
B. Brodie, F.G.S.

On the Structure of the Calamite, by J. 8. Dawes,

Esq., F.G.S.

June 14th.—On Organic Remains recently found in the Wealden,
by G. A. Mantell, LL.D., F.G.S.

On the Strata from Christ Church Harbour to Poole

Harbour, by Joseph Prestwich, jun., Esq., F.G.S.

Notes on the Souffri¢re of St. Vincent, by Major

Henry Davis ; communicated by Sir Charles Lyell, V.P.G.S.

On the Geological Structure of Western Australia, by

Dr. Sommer ; communicated by the President.

—— On Ingleborough Cave, by J. W. Farrer, Esq., F.G.S.

Notes on Corals from the Greensand at Atherfield,
by William Lonsdale, Esq., F.G.S.

Nov. Ist.—On the supposed Soft Parts of an Orthoceras, by James
Hall, Esq., For. Mem. G.S

On Slaty Cleavage, by Daniel Sharpe, Esq., F.G.S.

(second communication).

Noy. 15th.—On the Gypsum of Nova Scotia, by Abraham Gesner,
MD: EGS!

A Comparison of the General Structural Features of
the Disturbed Districts of Europe with those of America, by Prof.
H. D. Rogers, For. Mem. G.S.

Nov. 29th.—On Fossil Plants from the Anthracite Formation of the
Alps of Savoy, by C. J. F. Bunbury, Esq., For. Sec. G.S.

On the Neighbourhood of Oporto, including the
Silurian Coal and Slates of Vallongo, by Daniel Sharpe, Esq.,
BAGS.

Dec. 13th, and Jan. 17th, 1849.—Notes on the Alps and Apennines,
more particularly on the Cretaceous and Supracretaceous Groups,
by Sir R. I. Murchison, F.G.S.

1849.

Jan. 3rd.—On the Hampshire Freshwater Tertiaries, by J. C.

Moore, Esq., Sec. G.S.

Additional Observations on the Ridgway Cutting, by
C. H. Weston, Esq., F.G.S.

—————— On the Silicified Soft Parts of a Zoophyte, by J. S.
Bowerbank, Esq., F.G.S.

Jan. 3lst.—On Saurian Remains from the Greensand of the United
States, by Prof. Owen, F.G.S.

ANNUAL REPORT. Xi

1849.
Jan. 3lst.—On the Affinities of the Genus Platysomus, by Sir P. G.
Egerton, Bart., M.P., F.G.S.

On Neritoma, a new Genus of Fossil Brachiopod, by
John Morris, Esq., F.G.S.

After the Reports had been read, it was resolved,—

That they be received and entered on the Minutes of the Meeting ;
and that such parts of them as the Council shall think fit, be printed
and distributed among the Fellows.

It was afterwards resolved,——

1. That the thanks of the Society be given to Sir Henry Thomas
De la Beche, retirmg from the office of President.

2. That the thanks of the Society be given to Sir Charles Lyell,
retiring from the office of Vice-President.

3. That the thanks of the Society be given to R. A. C. Austen,
Esq., E. H. Bunbury, Esq., Prof. Daubeny, M.D., Robert Hutton,
Esq., and John Morris, Esq., retirmg from the Council.

After the Balloting Glasses had been duly closed, and the lists
examined by the Scrutineers, the following gentlemen were declared
to have been duly elected the Officers and Council for the ensuing
year :—

xii ANNIVERSARY MEETING.

OFFICERS.

PRESIDENT.
Sir Charles Lyell, F.R.S. and L.S.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.

G. B. Greenough, Esq., F.R.S. and L.S.
Leonard Horner, Esq., F.R.S. L. and E.
G. A. Mantell, LL.D., F.R.S. and L.S.
Sir R. I. Murchison, G.C.St.S., F.R.S. and L.S.

SECRETARIES.

Wilham John Hamilton, Esq., Pres. R.G.S.
John Carrick Moore, Esq.

FOREIGN SECRETARY.
C. J. F. Bunbury, Esq., F.L.S.

TREASURER.
John Lewis Prevost, Esq.

COUNCIL.

J. S. Bowerbank, Esq., F.R.S. |}G. A. Mantell, LL.D., F.R.S.
C. J. F. Bunbury, Esq., F.L.S. and L.S.

W. B. Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S. || John C. Moore, Esq.

Charles Darwin, Esq., F.R.S. Sir R. I. Murchison, G.C.St.S.,
Sir H. T. De la Beche, F.R.S. F.R.S. and L.S.

and L.S. Lyon Playfair, Ph.D., F.R.S.
Sir P. Grey Egerton, Bart., M.P., || Lieut.-Col. J. E. Portlock, R.E.,
FS. F.R.S.

Prof. E. Forbes, F.R.S. and L.S. ||Samuel Peace Pratt, Esq., F.R.S.
G. B. Greenough, Esq., F.R.S.|} and L.S.

and L.S. John Lewis Prevost, Esq.
William John Hamilton, Esq.,|| Prof. A. C. Ramsay.

Pres. R.G.S. D. Sharpe, Esq., F.L.S.
Leonard Horner, Esq., F.R.S. L. || The Very Rev. the Dean of West-

and E. minster, D.D., F.R.S. and L.S.
Capt. Henry James, R.E. S. V. Wood, Esq.

Sir Charles Lyell, F.R.S. and L.S.

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‘SINNOOOY LSAU,

xiv Income and Expenditure during the

INCOME.
Outstanding, 1847 : fsa
Quarterly Journal, Vol. III. (Messrs. ce & Co.)
paid June 6th.. ee, AOde eee
Quarterly J ournal, Vol. III. (Author’ s " Corrections)
pedrdanvary 26th: id sssc ces hak we oe ase 10° 5 (0
eh ae
Balance at Banker’s, January 1, 1848.... 238 12 7
Balance im hands of Clerk, :°0 5.02... ..¢%6.. 22°19 3
—— 261 11 10
Compositions received 02% oo 2 tn 63-04, 0
Ditto at Banker’s, December 31st, 1847.. 3110 O
—————_ 94 10 0
Arrears of sAdmission Fees 4.:....723..+.. 389 1820
Arrears of Annual Contributions........ 1515 O
—— 5513 O
Admission Fees of 1848 ....... I ay cer a 144 18 0O
Auntial Contributions of 1848 %., 2.4...5 see eee 719 15. 56
Drvidends:on 3.per cent: Consols..5: 72223, LOs eee
Dale of Eransactions , /z....... act see 103 8: 7
Sale of Transactions in separate Memoirs .,........ oe Gt 7
Sale\of/Proceedings: .. 3... i... 4 sate eee eee 2 ESS 10
Journal, Vol. I., allowance on sale from the Publisher. . 30.)
Sale of Journal, Vol. TL. . 2.2. jee eae Se ee
sale of Journal,’ Vol} 100. .*) 022 ogee ee O44 ~67 4G
Sale.of Journal;? Vol. TV : 09) San See eee se ee ee 172 GS
Sale. of Library-Catalogue...-. ... .<2 242 . ase Oo
We have compared the Books and Vouchers ~
presented to us with these Statements, and
find them correct. N
RU LTON, : CR TAP
J. PRESTWICH, ete Auditors. gin79 15 9
A

Jan. 29th, 1849.

Year ending December 31st, 1848.

XV
EXPENDITURE.
Outstanding, 1847: ae ae}
Quarterly Journal, Vol. III. (Messrs. R. and J. E. Taylor)... 59 18 6
Moen (Patent Fuel Company) 6... 55.6 ee we ce ees Grl> G
Reema inepamrs. (Nix. Geld je eye iss a chet cea 6 oes 8's os. bg
fempositions. invested ¢.-:.........3. iets ale i202 1 O
General Expenditure : ek ae a
eee ACMING, TEAL ON coi wainie cn aiotiss v<zcwaers qv dwaneewsevass 35 11 4
Be ENSNTANOE tis fos o5s cremate inwaecesesesbeerase'e's de Sea aT
RAR AME DMITNO gins acidagitscuwes owvadywabeeiathecasecs se 618 0
2 SS GIG Se 21.0.9
Pee EMILE! ug tp cadaenis bicaececs <0} cer stesies veree 1b: Lil
MMs each ea a eds Space aired a dats ot 845 <uhOn SW aheepeones 39 12 -0
a cone 2413 5
Miscellaneous House Expenses, including Post- 49 3 6
eae Secret sar avbotutoc meas sieusietestent.
Stationery Ean Gaadenidie ha dawenae suspense ie~taww ess ss 5 15 5 4
MPteeMANCOUS, PINCH E (. 455.05 ccccepeesisndsesices cease 35.3 9
PRO TM CETINUER. 05, . 5 cccants'csnedbendcnbessiscsooat er LO- UI
279 O11
Salaries and Wages:
BAIR AI SECLEUAIY'S ccc vaca csetaseeacnssieasseanss estes 130 0 0
Beemer (1 QUSrEER): \.... ./..cececeavasccsccsarose-nee 32 10 0
2 ge: DEAS ee ii Ae er oir eee te ae 100°'6 0
Mesias Aria to eae suls)s nein es vv Geslepe use e's cessive 80 0 0
RUMEN AN Riots Reo lhidiete ie on sscniuwsctwris pare ces ou 3118 6
PreeebIOMAl ATCNOANIS, ......:/00..ecvcesancnccacnscase [34.6
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PROCEEDINGS
AT THE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING,
16th FEBRUARY 1849.

AWARD OF THE WOLLASTON MEDAL AND DONATION FunpD.

Arter the Reports of the Council and Committees had been read,
the President delivered the Wollaston Donation Medal to Mr. Prest-
wich, addressing him as follows :—

Mr. Prestwicu,—lIt is with no slight feeling of satisfaction that,
as President of this Society, it becomes my official duty to present
you with the highest honour which our body has it in its power to
award. We know that though your labours for the promotion of
our science are those of one devoted to the search of truth for its own
sake, the time which can be thus employed can only be snatched at
intervals from the cares of commercial life. Your study of chemistry
under our late lamented colleague, Turner, enabled you justly to
appreciate the value of that science in its applications to geology. So
also with your knowledge of physics, obtained at the same institution,
the University College, London, at the same time. With these aids,
and a just appreciation of the value of organic remains, you have in-
vestigated those districts, for your communications respecting which
the Geological Society of London this day presents you with its
Palladium Wollaston Medal. You first made known to us your re-
searches in the coal district of Colebrook Dale, and subsequently
those in the tertiary districts of London and Hampshire,—all cha-
racterized by that judicious consideration of the conditions obtainmg
at the time, without which just views respecting the state of the
various parts of our earth’s surface at different periods can scarcely be
obtained. Receive this medal, Mr. Prestwich, as a mark of the high
value which this Society sets upon your labours; and may you long
continue to employ that time which you can devote to science in the
promotion of the branch of knowledge which we are associated to
cultivate.

On receiving the Medal, Mr. Prestwicu replied as follows :—
Sir,—Allow me to express my grateful acknowledgements for this
mark of the approbation with which the Council of the Geological
Society have viewed my past labours. I can assure you that I value
it highly, and I receive it as a pledge to future exertions in the same
VOL. V.—PART I. b

XVili PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

field of geology. It is true that I entered upon this field as a student
and for relaxation, but the interest and difficulties of the subject
speedily induced me to take it up with more earnestness and deter-
mination, and eventually led me to extend the inquiry over an area
which I, at first, never contemplated.

The tertiary geology of the neighbourhood of London may be
wanting in beauty of stratigraphical exhibition and in perfect preser-
vation of organic types, but in many of the higher questions of pure
geology,—in clear evidence of remarkable physical changes,—in
curious and diversified paleeontological data, however defaced the
inscriptions, which is after all but a secondary point, few departments
of geology offer, I think, greater attractions.

The pleasure I have derived from the study of the remarkable
pheenomena which have come before me in the course of the investi-
gation, has far outbalanced the few obstacles I have had to contend
against. I, in fact, feel deeply indebted to geology, as a source of
healthful recreation, as an inestimable relief and abstraction in due
season from the cares frequently attendant upon the active duties of
life, for its kindly and valued associations, and above all for the high
communing into which it constantly brings us in the contemplation
of some of the most beautiful and wonderful works of the creation.

The President then addressed Mr. BunBury :—

Mr. Bunsury,—This Society having a second time availed itself
of an opportunity of assisting in the publication of the ‘ Pai¢ontologie
Francaise,’ by awarding the unappropriated balance of the Wollaston
Fund for the last year to M. Alcide d’Orbigny, pray express to him
the high value we attach to his labours, and the interest we feel in
the continuation of his ‘Paléontologie Francaise,’—a work of so much
importance to the progress of European geology.

Mr. Bunsury replied :—

Sir,—I will take care that this donation shall be transmitted to
the gentleman for whom it is designed; and I am happy to be the
medium of expressing to M. d’Orbigny the sense entertained by this
Society of the great services which he has rendered to geological
science, especially by the publication of his ‘ Paléontologie Frangaise.’

The President then turning to Mr. Hamitron spoke as follows :—

Mr. Hamitton,—In transmitting to Mr. Lonsdale the proceeds
of the Wollaston Donation Fund for this year, awarded to him in aid
of his work on Fossil Corals, may we request you to assure him of
the great satisfaction we experience in finding that the state of his
health permits him to follow up investigations of so much importance
to our science, and which at the same time add so justly to that re-
putation which he has acquired in this branch of knowledge? How-
ever small our aid may be, we trust that it will be received as a mark
of the continued value our body attaches to the labours of one to
whom while an officer of this Society it stood so much indebted for
his great and indefatigable exertions.

Mr. Hamitrton said in reply,—

Mr. Prestpent,—I shall lose no time in forwarding to Mr.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. abd

Lonsdale this award of the Council, and of assuring him of the inter-
est still felt by the Society in the progress of his labours. I beg
leave in Mr. Lonsdale’s name to return you his best thanks for this
mark of approbation, and to state that I am certain that it will derive
its greatest value in Mr. Lonsdale’s estimation from the circumstance
of its assuring him that his memory still lives in the recollection of
the Geological Society.

After the other proceedings had been completed, and the Officers
and Council had been elected, the President proceeded to address the
Meeting.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT,

SIR HENRY T. DE LA BECHE, C.B., F.R.S. &c.

GENTLEMEN,—It again becomes my duty to address you on our
progress during the past year. And first let me congratulate you on
the state of our finances,—a subject of no small importance in societies
such as ours, since so much of the good we can effect must depend
upon it. You will have found from the Report of your Council that
the receipts have so far exceeded the expenditure, that a considerable
sum, beyond the balance usually retained, now stands in your bankers’
hands. We have certainly to record a diminution, by three, in the
numbers of our body; but when we view this with reference to the
general state of public affairs during the past year, and to the total
number of our Fellows (894), we may regard this also as matter for
congratulation, more particularly when we compare our decrease with
that which has been experienced by many other societies durimg the
same time. Your Quarterly Journal has continued to be published
regularly, making known the communications of our colleagues
shortly after they have been read in this room, thus most materially
aiding the progress of that branch of knowledge for the cultivation
and advance of which we are associated.

Loss by death, which from our numbers it must always be the
melancholy duty of your President to announce at this season, has
diminished our body by seventeen.

We have to lament the decease of the Rev. Joun HaitstTone, one of
the first Members of our Society. He was born near London in 1759,
and after receiving his early education at Beverley School, Yorkshire,
removed to Cambridge, entering first at Catherine Hall and afterwards
at Trinity College. Hg distinguished himself as Second Wrangler for
his year (1782), Dr. Wood (late Master of St. John’s) being Senior
Wrangler, and Professor Porson and other distinguished men taking
their degrees at the same time. In 1784 he became a Fellow of
Trinity College, and in 1788 was appointed Woodwardian Professor,
an office which he held for thirty years, until his marriage and _re-
tirement to the vicarage of Trumpington in 1818, when he was suc-
ceeded by our colleague Professor Sedgwick.

xX PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

After his election to the Woodwardian Professorship he went to
Freiberg, and studied under Werner for about a year. Upon his re-
turn to Cambridge he published a syllabus of a course of lectures on
Geology and Mineralogy ; but it would appear that he never obtamed
a class. It has been supposed that he was discouraged by those then
in power, and who entertained no favourable opinion of such studies.
However this may have been, Mr. Hailstone never lectured as Wood-
wardian Professor; and this from no want of zeal on his part, for he
was much attached to geology, as his many additions to the Wood-
wardian Collection at Cambridge, and his various journeys in this,
and other countries, sufficiently testify.

Mr. Hailstone was well-versed in general science, and esteemed as
a mathematician. Even in his declinmg years he studied works of
high modern analysis. He was the earnest and untirmg promoter of
the progress of knowledge, as well among the poor as among those
placed in more fortunate circumstances. During the long period of
his residence at Trinity, his exertions were unwearied in sustaining
the high repute and usefulness of that distinguished College, and
upon his retirement to Trumpington the education of the poor of his
parish was his constant care. He was the chief contributor to the
funds of his parochial schools, and at his death they were liberally
endowed by him.

Mr. Hailstone contributed to our Society a paper on the Geology
of Cambridgeshire, inserted in vol. ii. 1st series of our Transactions ;
and he left behind him many journals of travels and correspondence,
now in the possession of his nephew, the Rev. John Hailstone, of
Bottisham, near Newmarket, understood to be interesting, as show-
ing the state of Geology thirty and forty years since. He died at
Trumpington, on the 9th of June, 1847, in the 88th year of his age,
his mind clear until within a few hours of his decease.

In Mr. Georce CUMBERLAND we have to lament the loss of one
of our Honorary Members, of whom we have now only nineteen re-
maining. He was born in London on the 9th of December, 1752,
and was the grandson of Mr. John Cumberland, the inventor of the
process of bending ship-timbers by steam, in the experiments con-
nected with which this gentleman expended his whole fortune, about
£16,000. The patent for the invention is still im the Cumberland
family. In early life Mr. George Cumberland attended as an hono-
rary student at the Royal Academy, and there became intimate with
Banks, Barry, Flaxman, Fuseli, and other distinguished painters and
sculptors of the time. He spent many years in Italy, and returned
to this country about 1792. ‘

Mr. Cumberland early turned his attention to the study of Geo-
logy, and was elected one of our Honorary Members in 1810. He
gradually formed an extensive collection, finally purchased and pre-
sented to the Museum at Manchester by Mr. James Heywood, M.P.
This collection is rich in crinoidal remains, fossils which had much
engaged the attention of Mr. Cumberland. He communicated two
papers to our Society, one on a Pentacrinus from Lyme Regis, a new

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XX1

Encrinus, and a Briarian Pentacrinus, inserted in vol. v. of the Ist
series of our Transactions ; the other memoir bemg Remarks on the
Strata at Stinchcombe, near Dursley, Gloucestershire, published in
vol.i. of our 2nd series of Transactions. We have also a MS. description
by Mr. Cumberland, sent to us in 1818, of the portion of the Moun-
tain Limestone series, exposed on the Avon, near Bristol, named the
Black Rock. He also published in 1818, at Bristol, a work entitled
‘Reliquize Conservatze, from the Primitive Materials of our present
Globe, with popular descriptions of some remarkable Encrinites and
their connecting links.’

Late in life he occupied himself much with landscape painting,
and he has left many hundred water-colour drawings, finished on the
spot, of scenes in the vicinity of Bristol. These have been considered
to possess much merit from their freshness and truth. For the last
ten years he was afflicted by blindness. Though so great a calamity
to one who could so well employ his sight, he still contimued cheerful
and happy, and retained his faculties until the day of his death. He
expired at Bristol on the 8th of August, 1848, in the 95th year of
his age.

Dr. SamveL Hrppert Ware was born at Manchester on the
21st of April, 1782, and was the eldest son of Mr. Samuel Hibbert,
of Clarendon House, Chorlton, Lancashire. He was first destined
for the army, and for some time held a commission in a militia re-
giment. Succeeding to an independent fortune, he passed through a
course of medical studies in order the better to fit him for those pur-
suits to which he was desirous of dedicating his time, and took his
degree of M.D. in the University of Edinburgh in 1816. In 1817
he made his first voyage to the Shetland Islands, to which the faci-
lity of access was then very different than at present; and among
the other results of his visit, there found chromate of iron in con-
siderable abundance. At the request, chiefly, of Professor Jameson,
he again visited the Shetlands in the following year, with the view
of rendering his discovery of the chromate of iron publicly useful,
and of completing his geological survey of those islands. For his
researches connected with the former the Society of Arts awarded
him their Gold Isis Medal in 1820, and the results of his labours
were given to the public in 1822, under the title of ‘ Description of
the Shetland Islands, comprismg an Account of their Geology,
Scenery, Antiquities and Superstitions.’ Though occupied much by
antiquarian researches and other inquiries, including among the latter
the philosophy of apparitions, upon which he first communicated a
paper to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and afterwards published,
in 1824, a separate work, Dr. Hibbert did not neglect his geological
pursuits. After examining the volcanic districts of Italy, France,
and parts of Germany during two or three years, he published, in
1832, a portion of his observations in his ‘ History of the Extinct
Volcanos of the Basin of Neuwied, on the Lower Rhine.” In 1833
he communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh a memoir “ On
the Freshwater Limestone of Burdiehouse, in the neighbourhood of

Xxil PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Edinburgh, belonging to the Carboniferous group of Rocks,” a paper
which you will recollect attracted no slight attention at the time.
He would appear during the latter part of his life to have principally
devoted his attention to archzology, respecting which he has left
several important works. After his return from the continent he
made a tour through Scotland, more especially examining the sculp-
tured stones and Runic inscriptions of Forfarshire, Ross-shire, and
other places, Mrs. Hibbert executing elaborate and beautiful draw-
ings of them, which it was his intention to have published. In 1837,
Dr. Hibbert took the additional name of Ware, by royal license, as
the representative of the family of Mr. James Ware, the historian of
Ireland. After long suffering from bronchitis, Dr. Hibbert Ware

expired on’ the 30th of last December, in his 67th year, at Hale

Barns, near Altringham, Cheshire.

Sir Tuomas Dick Lauper, Baronet, was born in 1784, and was
the son of Sir Andrew Lauder, of Fountain Hall, Edinburghshire.
In early life he entered the army, but upon his marriage retired to
Relugas, in Morayshire, where he passed many years. His active
mind did not permit him to remain idle, and we find him early en-
gaged in scientific pursuits. In the third volume of the Wernerian
Transactions he gave an account of the transport, by means of ice,
of a large boulder on the shore of the Moray Frith. Having made
a minute examination of the celebrated Parallel Roads of Glenroy,
he forwarded a memoir containing the results of this investigation to
the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the paper was inserted in the
9th volume of their Transactions. In 1829 he drew up an account
of a great flood in Morayshire, full of most valuable information re-
specting that remarkable inundation. About 1830 Sir Thomas
quitted his retirement in the country and became resident in Edin-
burgh. Some years subsequently he became Secretary to the Board
of Trustees of Fisheries and Manufactures in Scotland. With his
characteristic desire to promote all that was valuable in art as well
as science, he exerted himself in instituting a School of Design at
Edinburgh. Success attended his labours, and he had the satisfac-
tion of seeing that establishment in a high state of efficiency before
his death. Sir Thomas Dick Lander was much esteemed in private
life, and ever ready to encourage rismg merit, wherever found. He
was the author of several works in imaginative literature which have
been extensively read, and some translated into French and German.
He died in May 1848, in his 64th year.

EpMuUND TyReELL ARTIS was born at Sweflin, near Saxmundham,
Suffolk, in 1789, and was the eldest son of parents in easy circum-
stances. In very early life he exhibited that talent for art which
enabled him even to paint portraits and model busts in clay, and was
of so much value to him afterwards, more especially in his antiqua-
rian researches. He was much attached to the study of geology, and
about 1816 or 1817, and for many years afterwards, spent much of
his time in collecting fossil plants from the Yorkshire and Derbyshire

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Xx

coal-fields. He eventually amassed a very extensive collection of
these and other fossils, and in 1838 published a work entitled ‘ Ante-
diluvian Phytology,’ containing numerous plates taken from his own
drawings. The chief labours of Mr. Artis were antiquarian, and his
principal work one which appeared in 1823, entitled ‘ Roman Anti-
quities, or the Durobrivee of Antoninus identified, in a series of plates
illustrative of the excavated remains of that Roman station in the
parish of Castor, Northamptonshire.’ The late Earl Fitzwilliam
liberally assisted him in the publication of this work, and he also
found most kind patrons in the late Duke of Bedford and Lord Hol-
land. The last twenty-two years of his life Mr. Artis passed at
Castor, near Peterborough, ardent in the pursuit of the Roman re-
mains entombed beneath the surface around him. His labours were
“not without their reward, and eventually a mass of information and
many objects of interest were obtained. It is recorded of him, as
illustrating his persevering search for Roman remains, that having
discovered at Sibson such antiquities (now in the Woburn collection),
he bivouacked with his men in the depth of the winter of 1846-7 in
a wood adjoiing, until the weather caused his party to desert and
leave him. He died at Doncaster on the 24th of December, 1847,
and his remains were carried to the churchyard of Castor, where they
now rest in the centre of his great field of research, the old Roman
town.

We have to deplore the loss, from among our foreign members, of
the great chemist, Jacos Brerzetius. This justly celebrated man
was born in 1779, at Linkdping, in Eastern Gothland. He studied
at Upsala, Gottingen, and Paris; Professor Afzelius, a nephew of
Bergman, filling the chair of chemistry when he was at the former
place. It is also stated that Gahn, the discoverer of phosphorus in
bones, was the Swedish master of chemistry to Berzelius.

Berzelius would appear early to have turned his attention to mine-
ralogy, a science which, when we regard its important bearing upon
many points in geology, we may hope again to see more cultivated
than it has lately been in this country by those who occupy them-
selves with geological investigations. In 1806, Berzelius and Hi-
singer commenced a periodical work, entitled ‘ Afhandlingar i Fysik,
Kemi och Mineralogi,’ which extended to six volumes, the last bemg
published in 1818. These volumes contain forty-seven papers by
Berzelius, the greater part consisting of the analyses of minerals.

In 1814 he published, in Swedish, an octavo tract, entitled ‘An
attempt to establish a pure scientific System of Mineralogy, by means
of the Electro-chemical Theory and the doctrine of Chemical Pro-
portions.’ He therein lays it down as a principle that mineralogy is
only a part of chemistry, and that the chemical is the only scientific
mode of treating it. He viewed each mineral compound as a salt,
consisting of an acid and a base, and considered that if each com-
pound were exposed to the action of a voltaic pile, one part would
be attracted to the positive, the other-to the negative pole. |

In a paper published previously (in 1811 or 1812), taking up an

XXIV PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

opinion, also thrown cut by Mr. Smithson, that silica acted as an
acid, he called the combinations of silica and of most of the bases,
siliciates. Silicium being, as you are aware, (in the form of its oxide, )
the most abundant of all the metals known on the surface of our
planet, silica constituting from 64 to 75 per cent. of granites, whence
so many other rocks have been derived, and about 55 per cent. of
greenstones, the importance of the labours of Berzelius to geology in
establishing the true character of silica will be at once appreciated.
In the work of 1814, above mentioned, he further explained his
views respecting silica, and pointed out the mode of calculating
mineral formule. He gave 49°64 as the atomic weight for silica
(that now used is 51°96), for alumina 46-7 (still employed) ; and he
also gave numbers nearly the same as now used for magnesia, lime,

baryta, soda and potash. In his classification of minerals he di-—

vided them into—

I. Bodies formed according to the laws of composition prevailing
in inorganic nature, 7. e. combinations of two elements, or combina-
tions of such combinations, or binary combinations.

II. Bodies formed according to the laws of organic nature, 7. e.
combinations of three or more elements, or combinations of these, or
ternary and quaternary combinations.

The elements were divided into three classes: 1. oxygen; 2. me-
talloids, or simple combustibles the metallic character of which is
not established ; and, 3. metals. Each of the simple elements was
considered to form the basis of a mineralogical family, consisting of
itself and of all its combinations with bodies acting in an electro-ne-
gative manner towards it, ¢. e. occupying, with a few exceptions, a
higher place in the series of elements which he gave. These families
were then divided into orders, as sulphurets, carburets, arseniets, tel-
lurets, oxides, sulphates, muriates, carbonates, arseniates, siliciates,
&c., and specimens of such a system are given for silver, iron, &c.
In an appendix to this memoir Berzelius gave an account of the
method of determining the atomic weight of the elements, as also
a table of them with their signs and numbers, and a second table
of their combinations with oxygen.

In another memoir, published in 1815, he defended his system
from objections that had been raised against it; gave a further ex-
planation of his views of the constitution of minerals; criticised
some other systems—those of Brunner, Werner, Hausmann, Kar-
sten, Hauy, and others; and. presented a complete view of his own
classification, with the names of the species and their chemical
symbols.

In his annual report to the Swedish Academy for 1822, Ber-
zelius criticised Mohs’ system, published in 1820, and noticed Mit-
scherlich’s discovery that some compounds are dimorphous, and
hence that Hauy’s principle of similar primary forms implying simi-
lar composition could not be true. He also then noticed Mitscher-
lich’s doctrine of isomorphism, as the most important discovery in
chemistry since that of chemical proportions, and as likely to change
the whole aspect of mineralogy. It may be here observed respecting

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXV

dimorphism and isomorphism, that the known dimorphous bodies
are very few, not more than about ten in 350 crystallized minerals,
and that the isomorphous substances being ascertained, the great
difficulty at first contemplated by the discovery of isomorphism has
not been felt. M. Dufrénoy, in his excellent treatise on Mineralogy,
well observes, that ‘‘ It is not necessary to give the same composition,
that minerals should exactly contain the same weight of their simple
constituent substances ; it is sufficient that there is an exact relation
between the bases and the acids they contain, or between their iso-
morphous substances*.”’

In 1824 Berzelius published, in the Transactions of the Swedish
Academy, a memoir “On the Changes in the Chemical System of
Mineralogy, which the property of Isomorphous Bodies to replace
each other in indeterminate proportions has rendered necessary.”

In the ‘ Jahresbericht’ for 1825 there is a critique on Gmelin’s
system of mineralogy, with some remarks on that of Mohs; and in
that for 1846, Berzelius again returns to the subject of mineralogy.
He there explains the changes in his views, and gives a new electro-
chemical arrangement of the elementary bodies according to which
minerals may be classified. The followmg are the orders he then
adopted :—

I. Elementary bodies.

II. Combinations of metals with metals.

III. Combinations of simple elements with elements that form
bases (Basenbildnern)—-seleniets, sulphurets, &c.

IV. Combinations of simple elements with elements that form
salts (Salzbildnern)—Aaloid salts, &e.

V. Combinations of the more electro-positive oxides (bases) with
the electro-negative oxides (acids)—hydrates, silicates, carbonates,
&e.

This system has been worked out by Rammelsberg. The great
difficulty was still the isomorphous elements. When less than 2 or
3 per cent., Berzelius neglected them; when more, they were taken
into account, so that some minerals, such as augite, hornblende and
garnet, have to be repeated in different places, while others, having
little m common, are brought together.

The ‘ Handbook of Chemistry,’ in Swedish, by Berzelius, which con-
tains much mineralogy, has been translated into German by Wohler,
and his ‘Treatise on the Blowpipe’ has become a well-known work
im different languages. He made numerous analyses of minerals,
besides those noticed above. Some of those of meteoric stones were
published in 1832, and in the ‘Jahresbericht’ for 1836 he had
much on the same subject.

The analysis of wavellite by Berzelius is a good example of the
care needed in such investigations, and is useful in showing, though
made so long since as 1819+, how desirable it would be if analyses

* Dufrénoy, Traité de Minéralogie, tome i. p. 19.

+ Dr. Thomson remarks (History of Chemistry, vol. ii. p. 224) that an analysis
by Fuchs had given him similar results in 1818, though Berzelius did not appear
to have been acquainted with it.

XXV1 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

were now undertaken, with all the aid the present state of chemistry
could afford, of many minerals the supposed composition of which
only rests upon old examinations. Berzelius found wavellite to be a
hydrous phosphate of alumina, while Sir Humphrey Davy, in a pre-
vious analysis, had altogether missed the phosphoric acid. In his
turn, however, Berzelius missed phosphoric acid in chalkolite, which
Mr. Richard Phillips afterwards found, and Berzelius acknowledged
as correct.

Berzelius was perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences of
Stockholm, and numerous academies and scientific bodies in various
parts of the world honoured themselves by enrolling his name among
their members. Such was the value attached to his labours by his
sovereign, Charles John XIV. of Sweden, that he placed him among
the hereditary nobility of his country, creating him a Baron. Though
suffering from long and severe illness, with his lower extremities
finally paralysed, Berzelius continued to labour in that science to
which he had devoted himself, with his faculties unimpaired, until
death terminated his bodily afflictions on the 7th of August, 1848, at
the age of sixty-nine years.

With reference to the communications made to us since the last
Anniversary, we will endeavour, as last year, so to classify them
that our progress in the various branches of geological research may
be the better seen.

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.
Accumulations of Mineral Matter now taking place.

Respecting the accumulation of mineral matter now taking place
on the surface of the earth, mechanically and chemically, by aqueous
and chemical means, we have had little brought before us. Mr.
Dawson, in his communication ‘‘on the Colourmg Matter of Red
Sandstones and of Greyish and White Beds associated with them,”
mentions, as bearing on the manner in which variations of colour may
have been produced, certain deposits in the harbour of Pictou, Nova
Scotia. Three rivers and several minor streams carry large quanti-
ties of reddish mud during floods into the harbour. This mud set-
tles on the bottom and undergoes a change of colour. Old mud
taken up is of a dark tint, emitting a strong smell of sulphuretted
hydrogen. When dry it is grey, and Mr. Dawson considers that the
iron of the peroxide, giving the original red tint to the deposit, has
combined with the sulphates in the sea-water, “ by the deoxidating
influence of decaying vegetable matter, the greater part of which ap-
pears to be furnished by the eel-grass (Zostera marina), which grows
abundantly in the mud flats.”’ This the author notices as explaining
the occurrence of iron pyrites amid organic matter in rocks, The
vegetable matter is mentioned as so completely decomposed in some
parts of Pictou Harbour that no trace of it remains, as if the carbon
had been entirely removed as carbonic acid also in part formed at
the expense of the peroxide of iron.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXVli

I need scarcely remind you that the manner in which iron pyrites
is formed under certain conditions, when organic matter is present, is
now well understood. Perhaps one of the most illustrative cases is
that of the formation of iron pyrites from the decomposition of the
bodies of mice in a solution of sulphate of iron, described by Mr.
Pepys, in 1811, in the first series of our Transactions, vol. 1. There
is also an instance of a dog having fallen down a mine-shaft near
Mousehole, Cornwall, at the bottom of which there appears to have
been a solution of sulphate of iron. Its remains, when disco-
vered some time afterwards, were found surrounded by sulphuret of
iron. In such cases, the hydrogen evolved from the decomposition
of the animal matter would appear to take the oxygen both from the
sulphuric acid and oxide of iron, so that iron pyrites, or bisulphuret
of iron, is produced. Artificial iron pyrites has also been formed
in the dry way. The ammoniacal liquor of gas-works contains much
sulphuretted hydrogen. An instance is known where, in employing
this liquid in the manufacture of sal ammoniac, the sulphur of the
sulphuretted hydrogen combined with the iron of the vessel in which
the operation was conducted, and formed crystallized iron pyrites of
a bright yellow colour, which have retained their lustre durmg many
years to the present time. °

In a note on the Souffriére of St. Vincent, Major Henry Davis
calls attention to the evidence of eruptions prior to that of 1812,
when such an abundance of ashes was vomited forth from this vol-
cano and scattered to great distances. He found beds of vegetable
matter interstratified with volcanic layers, marking times of repose
when parts, at least, of the mountain could be clothed by plants ; and
he observes, that in some instances we may conclude, from the thick-
ness of the vegetable beds, long intervals of time to have elapsed
between the eruptions. ‘The manner in which a succession of vol-
canic eruptions may be thus geologically chronicled is not only inter-
esting in itself, but such facts as Major Davis notices are valuable
as illustrating the mode in which, during the long lapse of geological
time since ashes were ejected from volcanic vents (and we have rea-
son to conclude that such were driven out from various parts of the
earth’s surface at very early periods), not only may vegetable matter
have been imbedded amid ashes, but the remains of animal life also.
Certainly the chances of preserving these remains when the move-
ments on the earth’s crust were such as to depress volcanic districts
beneath the sea are but small. We have only to consider the effects
which would be produced by smking any modern volcanic region,
such as Etna or Vesuvius, or any district of extinct volcanos, such as
Central France, beneath the sea, to judge of the slight chance of
preserving such alternations of vegetable matter and volcanic ashes
and cinders from removal by the breakers as they slowly worked
upon the slightly coherent materials. Supposing a gradual descent
of the land, so that finally the whole volcanic region would be sub-
merged, we should scarcely expect any of the loose materials to re-
main as accumulated in the atmosphere, but to be spread about be-
neath the water by tidal streams, or ocean and sea currents. Under

XXVill PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

such conditions, perhaps, some of the harder remains of land animals,
even of successive geological times, might occasionally be mingled
with those of the marine creatures existing around the land as it be-
came submerged. When we consider the effects which would be pro-
duced upon lands gradually smking beneath the sea, and more espe-
cially when such lands are volcanic, we at once perceive the small
chance of preserving any large portion of the loose materials, with or
without animal and vegetable remains, in the state in which they
may have occurred on such dry land. Curious associations of rocks
might result from the harder parts of a volcano, those formed of
various lava currents, remaining, while the softer portions, such as
ashes and cinders, were removed by the breakers, new marine accu-
mulations intermingling with the old lava currents. Should the sea
again cover the Great Desert of Northern Africa, its sands would be
remodelled into beds, and would contain, intermixed with them, such
bones of men, camels and other animals as were sufficiently hard
to resist the friction of the breakers until they were buried in the
new marine beds with the remains, perhaps, of the marine creatures of
the time. In such cases, as also in those of voleanos, there would be
little trace of the old tracts of dry land, the portions of the latter
preserved being chiefly beds, such as limestone, more or less consoli-
dated from having been formed in lakes, rivers, or as subaérial tra-
vertine, and lava currents or other ejections of molten rocks upon
the land, these latter, when covered by deposits formed in water,
showing no traces of having been so thrown out on dry land, although
sometimes the pumice character of such rocks, however the vesicles
may be now filled up by solid matter infiltrated mto them, may lead
us to suspect that they may have been vomited upon dry land.

Mode in which Mineral Matter has been accumulated at previous
Geological times.

Mr. Darwin, in his paper “on the Transportal of Erratic Boulders
from a Lower toa Higher Level,” after noticing the facts seen in va-
rious European and American localities, and which appear to show
that such transportal had actually taken place, and after quoting the
observations of himself, Prof. John Phillips, Mr. Hopkins, Mr.
Maclaren, Mr. D. Milne, the Rev. J. G. Cumming, Mr. Mallet,
Prof. Hitchcock, and Dr. Buckland, takes into consideration certain
causes which have been thought to have produced this distribution of
boulders at higher levels than the supposed parent rock is now known
to occupy. After admitting that the destruction of rocks in some
localities may have been such, that fragments from them may have
been detached and drifted, when portions of them, since removed, oc-
cupied higher levels than they now do, levels sufficiently high to ac-
count for the removal of boulders to those places where they are now
found, and having also taken into consideration the value of unequal
elevations of parts of land since the boulders were dispersed, Mr.
Darwin proceeds to investigate the effects which would be produced
by coast ice upon a land gradually smking beneath the level of the
sea. He adverts to the transportal of boulders by glaciers and coast

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXI1X

ice, as noticed by him in his communication to this Society upon the
Boulders of the Southern Hemisphere*, pointing out the different
effects produced by these various modes of transport. He remarks
that the fragments of rock, “from being repeatedly caught in the
ice and stranded with violence, and from being every summer ex-
posed to common littoral action, will generally be much worn; and
from being driven over rocky shoals, probably often scored. From
the ice not being thick, they will, if not drifted out to sea, be landed
in shallow places, and, from the packing of the ice, be sometimes
driven high up the beach, or even left perched on ledges of rock.”

Our colleague then proceeds to state the effects which would be
produced by the slow sinking of a mass of land in regions where
coast-ice could be formed, and the probable transportal of coast frag-
ments to higher levels as the land descended, so that, at subsequent
geological periods, when the land was again elevated, the hills and
mountain sides might be strewed over with fragments of rocks, the
parent mass, from whence they might have been derived, occupying
lower levels.

Among the effects produced by the sinking of masses of land gra-
dually beneath the level of the sea, and their emergence also in a
gradual manner,—movements which the present state of geological
knowledge would lead us to suppose had been common during the
lapse of geological time, though not to the exclusion of more violent
movements (which, however vast they may appear to creatures of
our magnitude, examining minor portions of the earth’s surface, are
by no means so when we regard them relatively to the volume and
superficies of the whole globe),—this removal of shingle and boulders,
with occasional angular fragments, at times and places where coast
ice could be formed, could scarcely but have happened. We have
only to consider the coasts of Northern Europe or of Northern
America to be gradually sinking to see how probable this would be.
Indeed the facts seen in connection with the distribution of boulders
and gravel in those regions, not forgetting a part of the scormg of
the solid rocks, would séem to require an explanation of this kind in
aid of other modes of the transport of rock fragments, none of which
should be forgotten when we regard the sinking, rising, or stationary
character of land in icy regions. Among these we should not omit,
for any value it may possess from local conditions, the upsetting of
icebergs of the kind noticed off Victoria Land. At one sudden twirl
the relative levels of angular fragments, shingles and boulders may
be changed by 1000 feet or more. What might become of such
suddenly elevated portions of rocks would depend upon conditions ;
and we have to inquire, in the first place, by what geological changes
the gravel and boulders thus picked up came into a position where
there were no forces to round them. They might in the first in-
stance have been carried from the land by coast ice, and drifted
seaward, or may be submerged portions of old beaches, the relative
levels of sea and land having changed. With regard, however, to
this mode of suddenly altering the level of boulders, we have to re-

* Geol. Trans. vol. vi. 2nd series, p. 430.

XXX PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

collect that after the upsetting of an iceberg, such as those off Vic-
toria Land and its adjoining icy barrier, there still would be a large
mass of ice beneath the surface of the sea, preventing the iceberg from
floating into shallow water. We endeavoured to show in the Address
of last year what would happen to these icebergs as they floated into
milder regions. From the thickness of the supporting ice becoming
less, and merely sufficient to float the coating of gravel and boulders,
not only might this detritus be borne to considerable distances, but
be really elevated above its former level. We merely allude to this
circumstance of mud, gravel and boulders being picked up at a depth
of 1000 or 1100 feet, and brought by the upsetting of the iceberg to
a higher level, that it may be borne in mind, though it would not
so well explain the changes of level noticed within a few miles, since
in its original climate there might not be sufficient waste of the
supporting ice to allow of the whole floating into shallow water, the
raising of coast ice, as supposed by Mr. Darwin, being apparently an
efficient and much better agent.

The modification in the original levels of gravels and boulders by
the sinking and rising of masses of land, more particularly in tidal
seas, where the heights of tides in different localities, and therefore
the height of coast-beaches, would vary considerably according to the
conditions existing at particular times, is of itself highly interesting,
and it becomes the more so when we have to consider the effects of
ice, either in the shape of shore ice, common sea floes forcing shin-
gles before them, or glacier ice on such coasts. Our colleague has
therefore done good service in thus showing how important it is pro-
perly to value the effects of coast ice when we have to consider the
manner in which gravel and boulders, now at higher levels than their
known parent masses, may have been transported to such situations.

In the paper of Mr. Smith, of Jordan Hill, on Scratched Boulders,
he alludes to his communication to this Society, in 1845, m which
he mentioned two boulders on the shores of the Gare Loch, Dun-
bartonshire, half imbedded in the ¢zl/, both grooved in the same di-
rection, namely from N.N.W. to 8.8.E., and concluded that the
parallelism was not accidental. Other boulders were subsequently
found by Mr. Maclaren and Mr. Smith grooved in the same direction,
that of the axis of the valley forming the trough of the Gare Loch.
Mr. Smith observes that, whatever may have been the cause of the
grooving, the grooves themselves were made subsequent to the depo-
sition of the till in that locality, and points out the difference between
the till and glacier moraines to which it has been likened.

Without attempting to account for the particular phenomena men-
tioned, Mr. Smith thinks it must be admitted that scratches and
furrows in rocks must, in many instances, be ascribed to glacial action,
either in the shape of icebergs or of glaciers, and considers that such
action must have been in force in Great Britain, supposing its gene-
ral temperature to have once been sufficiently low. He alludes to
the views of Mr. Darwin respecting the depression of land and
the consequent relative raising of ice-borne boulders on the new
shores; and concludes that there is evidence of a descent of the

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXxi

land in the basin of the Clyde, when the climate was colder than
at present, sufficiently rapid to have entombed alive the then testa-
ceous inhabitants of the sea (littoral and sub-littoral creatures, Myti-
lus edulis among them), covering them with a considerable depth of
finely laminated clay.

The shells in the shelly beds are noticed as in place, “the bi-
valves with both valves adherent, still covered with epidermis, and
the borers in their vertical position.” Under a movement of this
kind Mr. Smith supposes the ice upon the shores to have been floated
to a higher level, bearmg up the fragments of rock encased in or
supported by it.

Though many grooves and scratches observable upon the solid
rocks and boulders may have arisen, as has been supposed, from the
action of glaciers, coast ice, river ice, and the crushing of ice-floes
against the land—all varieties of glacial action which have to be re-
garded when we consider the effects which may be produced over gla-
cial countries and their shores,—there are other groovings which re-

uire to be carefully distinguished. In the contortion and squeezing
of strata the movement has been sometimes such, that by the sliding
of bed upon bed, friction grooves and scratches have been produced,
which may be readily mistaken for the others. Again, we find detritus,
the pebbles and boulders of which are scratched as well as the sup-
porting rocks, as if the whole mass had had an onward movement
with sufficient friction of parts to scratch the pebbles and subjacent
rocks. Sheets of ice, resting upon the bottom, such as much of the
great icy barrier appears to do near Victoria Land, might indeed
press heavily and slowly over such a bottom, and, if it were formed
of pebbles or boulders, scratch and groove the latter, as well as the
supporting rock, in general directions. At the same time we have
to regard the friction of a mass of loose materials moving by any
means in some given direction, as has been brought under the notice
of geologists by Mr. Mallet. Every block of rock in the course of a
river which can be moved along during a flood, without being caught
up in mechanical suspension, would grate along a bottom, tending to
scratch and groove the latter, and its own lower portion. When the
volume and velocity of the water were sufficiently great, and the
form of the river course variable, the blocks caught up at one time
in mechanical suspension and not at another, would fall to the bottom
from time to time, grooving and scratching it. These and other
causes of scratching and grooving have to be well taken into account,
as also artificial scratches and grooves, sometimes without due inves-
tigation attributed to glacial action.

We have also carefully to look into the bars and mounds regarded as
ancient moraines, since some of these, upon close investigation, have
been found to show that their component parts have been arranged by
moving water; the mode in which the blocks, pebbles and sand are
distributed proving this. We have frequently also to guard our-
selves from supposing that the larger blocks of such deposits as the
so-called boulder clay and till of various districts m our own country,
have been always accumulated in greater numbers on the top, or in

XXxll PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

the valleys, of such deposits; it being often clear that they only
appear so thickly strewed over the surface because the smaller portions
have been removed from the general mass, so that the blocks stand
out in more salient relief and apparently in greater multitude.

In his observations on the recent formations in the vicinity of
Edinburgh, Mr. James Nicol, after alluding to the general view taken
by Mr. Milne of that district, and remarking that the ‘¢/l’ or
boulder clay has been usually regarded as exhibiting no marks of
stratification, and hence considered to have been the result of some
sudden and violent action, adduces facts, brought to light by sections
upon the Edinburgh and Leith Railway, which would show a gradual
accumulation of the clays, sands, gravels and boulders there cut
through. He refers the effects seen to continued and variable agents,
the clays and sands derived from the adjoining coal-measures, and
the boulders transported by ice and entangled in the roots of floating
trees. He points to the mode in which boulders, dropped upon a
mud-bottom, would descend irregularly into it, such mass of mud not
necessarily being stratified although formed gradually.

Mr. Nicol considers that the facts observed would justify the con-
clusion that there had been elevation and depression of the sea-bottom
during these recent accumulations. With respect to the erratic
blocks, he thinks that, from the remarkable accumulation of them on
the Pentland Hills, this range of mountains may have stopped their
passage in a southward direction. A block of mica slate near Habbie’s
How, supposed to have travelled forty miles, is estimated to weigh six
or eight tons. In some places they appear to form long and nearly
straight lines, having a N.N.W. and 8.8.E. direction, ‘ without any
reference to the present declivity of the ground, except that they
seemed to become more numerous towards the summit of the ridge.”
With regard to their occurrence above the level of the sea, Mr. Nicol
states, that upon one hill he found ‘these travelled stones’ particu-
larly abundant at the height of from 1500 to 1600 feet.

Referring to certain sandstone and trap boulders at a higher level
than the usual mass of the same rocks in the adjoiming country, though
there may be a few points at the same height, six or eight miles di-
stant, Mr. Nicol thinks that the configuration of the shores and rela-
tive distribution of land and water, if the land were depressed, would
scarcely be such as to justify the supposition that the blocks were
gradually raised to higher levels by means of coast ice as the land be-
came depressed. He rather supposes that there may have been unequal
elevations of land, carrying up the detritus, resting upon the dislocated
masses to different heights; or so changing the relative levels that
the rocks whence the boulders were derived may then have been the
higher though now lower. In proof of this he quotes Mr. Milne as
enumerating 52 faults in this district ‘‘ raising the strata to the south
5169 feet, and 37 others which raise them 2412 feet in the opposite
direction ; the most extensive slip having thrown the strata 400 to
500 feet down to the north.’ Calling our attention to the kind of
movement now taking place in Scandinavia, Mr. Nicol remarks, that
if there was a similar movement between London and Anglesea,—

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXxili

the angular motion amounting to one degree, and therefore scarcely
perceptible,—Anglesea would be sunk 20,000 feet below the level
of the sea: and he proceeds to observe how far more probable such
movements are, than that which lifts whole continental masses in an
exactly vertical direction.

In his remarks on the colouring-matter of red sandstones and of
greyish and white beds associated with them, Mr. Dawson describes
the accumulations of Nova Scotia forming the lower part of the car-
boniferous system of that country, showing the manner in which the

eroxide of iron, which forms the red colour of many of the beds, is
diffused through the mass of the clays and shales, mingles with the
cementing matter of the sandstones, and stains the surfaces of the
pebbles. He also points to the admixture of these red beds with the
other kinds of strata not so coloured, such as dark grey sandstones
and shales, some beds with scarcely any ferruginous matter, others
with small quantities of carbonate and sulphuret of iron. A consi-
derable thickness of these dark beds contains fossil plants, bituminous
matter, or thin seams of coal. He also mentions limestones and gyp-
sum. Mr. Dawson supposes the peroxide of iron of the red beds to
have been mainly derived from the decomposition of the iron pyrites
contained in the Silurian and metamorphic rocks; and thinks that
the sulphuric acid which may have been formed might have united
with calcareous matter accumulated by molluscs and corals and have
formed gypsum, and that decomposing vegetable matter prevented
the iron from remaining as the peroxide in beds associated with the
red beds, and not of a red colour.

The cause of the wide distribution of red beds of clays, shales, sand-
stones and conglomerates, occurring as they do of all geological ages,
from the lowest to the highest sedimentary deposits, is one of much
interest. We find these beds most frequently intermingled with strata
of bluish green, greenish, and grey tints, some even quite colourless.
Upon carefully examining many of these deposits we see that some-
times the different tints were original, the drift having been mingled
with peroxide of iron at one time and not at another; and again we
observe effects which, as you are well aware, have of late years been
attributed to the action of decomposing organic substances upon the
peroxide of iron, in the manner adverted to by Mr. Dawson, so as to
convert the peroxide into a protoxide, carbonic acid being formed
partly at the expense of the peroxide of iron.

Paleontology.

In his remarks on the internal structure of Halonia, Mr. Dawes
considers that this fossil plant should be referred to the vascular
Cryptogamie, and that when compared with the plants found im the
coal-measures, its nearest affinity is to the Lepidodendron. He
points out “that a narrow ring of very regular, compact, elongated
tissue exists on the outer portion of the cortical zone, similar to the
prosenchymatous arrangement mentioned as occurring in the corre-
sponding part of the Lepidodendron.”’ He also remarks that “the
medullary column does not, either in the Lepidodendron or the Ha-

VOL. V.— PART I. c

XXXIV PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

lonia, consist of the usual parenchymatous tissue, but seems to be
composed of large quadrangular cells arranged in perpendicular
series,” and as if ‘“‘each minute column was confined within a slight
membrane or tube.”

Remarks were also sent us by Mr. Dawes on the structure of the
Calamite, which have, however, not been published in full, as sub-
sequent observations have afforded him additional evidence respect-
ing it. In the notice given in our ‘Journal,’ he mentions circum-
stances which induce him to infer that the Calamites will serve to
connect three great classes of the vegetable kmgdom.

We have again to record the advance of our knowledge in fossil
fishes from the labours of Sir Philip Egerton, who has continued
with unabated zeal to cultivate this branch of Paleeontology. In the
communication entitled ‘“ Palichthyologic Notes, supplemental to
the works of Professor Agassiz,’ he points out that the study of fossil
fishes had not kept pace with the advance made in other departments
of paleontology, notwithstanding the eminent success which attended
the labours of the Professor. He shows, by reference to the general
table of fossil fishes accompanying the last part of Professor Agassiz’s
work, and deducting the fishes of the old red sandstone, which have
been subsequently described, that 389 species, given in that table,
have neither been figured nor described. As the return of Professor
Agassiz to Europe would appear distant, Sir Philip Egerton intends
from time to time to communicate to our Society notices of fossil
fishes, which may be considered supplemental and auxiliary to the
works of the Professor, a resolve upon which we have great reason
to congratulate ourselves.

The first notice was a paper by Sir Philip Egerton and Mr. Hugh
Miller, and those who were present mm this room when the communi-
cation was read, will not fail to recollect the beautiful paper model
made by the latter to illustrate the structure of that strange fish,
the Pterichthys, and the anxiety of the former to do justice to
the skill and perseverance with which Mr. Hugh Miller had laboured
at the fishes of the old red sandstone. In this notice, after mention
of previously known species, a new species, named Pterichthys qua-
dratus by Sir Philip Egerton, is described and figured. The genus
Pamphractus, of Agassiz, is not considered well-founded, the speci-
mens which gave rise to it being portions of a Pterichthys.

Sir Philip Egerton considers, with Agassiz, that the Pterichthys
was a ground fish, living on the mud and sand at the bottom of the
sea, and shows that from the true position of the parts of this fish,
as first shown by Mr. Hugh Miller, ‘‘the level ventral surface would
glide with the slightest impetus over the slimy bottom,” while “at
the same time the vaulted carapace would afford a most effectual
buckler of defence against injury from external violence.” A view,
Sir Philip observes, corroborated by a comparison with modern fishes
of similar habits, the Sturgeon, whose plates along the dorsal line
much resemble the central dorsal plate of Pterichthys, having strong
bony plates protecting their arched heads and bodies.

In a paper on the supposed impression in shale of the soft parts

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXV

of an Orthoceras, by Mr. James Hall of New York, after having
noticed the observations of Mr. Anthony of Cincinnati, formerly
communicated to this Society, our colleague proceeds to remark on
the conditions favourable for the preservation of the solid portions
of animal remains in the rock in which the supposed soft parts of
the Orthoceras were found, and to show that appearances, similar
to those observed by Mr. Anthony, had been seen by him for ten
years in the shales of New York. Mr. Hall considers that these
appearances are fallacious, and that the sac-like envelopes are merely
concretions which are to be found enveloping other organic remains
as well as the shells of the Orthoceras, instances of which he adduces
in North American rocks. The extent to which animal structures
may be preserved under favourable conditions forms an inquiry of
much interest. As investigations have proceeded, facts as to the
preservation of more perishable parts than we were once accustomed
to consider probable, have accumulated. When the Dean of West-
minster first brought forward facts respecting the preservation of the
feeces of fish and of saurians in a fossil state, even before these feeces
were excluded from the bodies of the animals themselves, much
doubt was, you will recollect, cast on these views. Now, however,
coprolites are as much admitted to be fossils as the bones of ani-
mals and the shells of molluscs. Last year we had occasion to notice
the views of Dr. Mantell and Mr. Charlesworth respecting the pre-
servation of the soft parts of molluscs by means of silica. The
beautiful preservation of the fossil described by Professor Owen,
from the Oxford clay, and of the Belemnites from the same deposit
mentioned by Dr. Mantell, and many other cases of the fine pre-
servation of organic remains under favouring conditions, will be in
your recollection ; so that while with Mr. Hall we may be prepared
to consider the appearances he notices as simple concretions, such
as surround other fossils, we may still expect to find the less firm
portions of animals better preserved. than might once have been
supposed. We are more especially led to this opinion in consequence
of some late researches of Dr. Lyon Playfair, who found that there
was still much animal matter remaining in some fossil shells col-
lected, during the progress of the Geological Survey, from certain
Silurian rocks in Wales.

In a memorandum respecting certain fossiliferous localities, appended
to a paper by Professor Ramsay and Mr. Aveline on the structure
of parts of North and South Wales, Professor EK. Forbes concludes,
that the sandstones skirting the Longmynds belong to the upper
beds of the Caradoc series, and were deposited in a deep sea around
the margin of land, that land steep and high, and formed of the
Llandeilo flags, or of older rocks. He also infers that they are in
sequence with certain limestone bands at the base of the Wenlock
series, and that the Meifod fossiliferous beds are of a somewhat older
date, probably equivalent to the middle part of the Caradoc beds.
Inferences regarding the condition of the sea as respects its prox-
imity to land, and depth of water, drawn from organic remains, un-
doubtedly require very great care, more especially when the character

XXXV1 PROCEEDINGS GF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

of these remains is alone regarded, and the habits of the animals of
which they have formed the harder parts considered to be the same
with those of certain animals now existing; but when, as appears the
case in the localities noticed, the structure of the rocks themselves
would support such inferences, they become of great geological value.
In this way we may advance towards much knowledge of the coasts
and the depths of water around them at different times in various
parts of the earth’s surface, and from the local or extended distribu-
tion of particular marine animals, infer the physical conditions under
which their remains have been entombed.

Connected with the same communication there is a note by Mr.
Salter, on the fossils of the lowest Wenlock shales, east of Llandegle,
Builth, in which he remarks on the mixture of Caradoc and Wen-
lock fossils (trilobites, brachiopod shells, and a single coral) there
found. The absence of ordinary bivalve and univalve shells is no-
ticed, as also that of terebratulee, large flat orthides, corals, and tri-
lobites, characteristic of the Woolhope limestone. This is apparently
another example of the effects of local conditions, so needful to in-
vestigate when we attempt generalizations as to the kind of life dis-
tributed over a particular area at a given geological time.

We find our colleague, Dr. Mantell, as indefatigable as ever in
developing the fauna and flora of the Wealden deposits. In his brief
notice of organic remains recently discovered in these accumulations,
he presents us with no slight additions to the list of the animal and
vegetable remains formerly known. He notices additional and more
instructive examples of Clatharia and Endogenites, and cones appa-
rently referable to the same species of Abies or Pinus as those found
in the greensand of Kent. As extending our knowledge of the
European flora at the time of these deposits, Dr. Mantell refers to
the labours of Dr. Dunker of Hesse Cassel, who has added to it no
less than sixty species of plants, and other species are stated to have
been found since Dr. Dunker’s work was published*. Of the sixty
species of plants, thirty are referable to seven genera of ferns, and
twelve to Cycadeze or Zamie.

Dr. Mantell is not aware of any new species of molluscs having
been discovered in the Wealden deposits of Britain, but refers to the
researches of Dr. Dunker for a list of 100 species found in the German
accumulations of the same age. Respecting crustaceans, he notices
the shields or cases of Cyprides and Estheria, of which four new
species have been detected in Germany. For the insects, Dr. Man-
tell refers to the labours of the Rev. P. B. Brodie, and corroborates
the occurrence of insects in the freshwater beds above the oolite in
Buckinghamshire.

Under the head of fishes, the German accumulations of this age
are stated to have yielded one species of Enchodus, two new species
of Hybodus, two of Lepidotus, one of Spheerodus, and one of Gy-
rodus. Fine specimens of the previously well-known species of
British Lepidotus are mentioned as having been discovered near
Hastings.

* Monographie der Norddeutschen Wealdenbildung.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXVil

Regarding reptiles, the additional remains of Iguanodon, Hyleeo-
saurus, Megalosaurus, Streptospondylus, Poecilopleuron, Goniopholis
and Cetiosaurus are mentioned, and specimens are also noticed of
Trionyx, Plesiosaurus, and Macrorhynchus. But the discovery
most gratifying to Dr. Mantell was that of the lower jaw of his Igua-
nodon, which, most properly, found its way to him for description*.
He infers, from the examination of these remains, that there is
“now unquestionable proof that the Iguanodon, like the colossal
Edentata, possessed a large prehensile tongue and fleshy lips, capable
of being protruded and retracted, and which must have formed most
efficient instruments for seizing and cropping the foliage and branches
of ferns, Cycadeze and coniferous trees.”

Dr. Mantell, referring to a previous notice of a jaw which he
then (1841) thought might be that of a young Iguanodon, now pro-
poses the name of Regnosaurus Northampton: for the reptile to
which it belonged, considering that it is subgenerically, if not gene-
rically, distinct from the Iguanodon, though evidently of the same
family. Ina summary of the Vertebrata found in the Wealden de-
posits, Dr. Mantell enumerates about thirty-two species of fishes, one
a Cycloid, sixteen Placoids, and fifteen Ganoids. Of reptiles it is
stated that there are twelve genera of saurians already determined,
with indications of four or five others, one flying reptile,—the Ptero-
dactyle, and four or five genera of Chelonians. There are also bones
considered referable to birds. From the length of time (nearly
thirty years) which has elapsed between the discovery of the teeth
of the Iguanodon to that of the jaw with teeth in place above men-
tioned, our colleague is led to infer that the paleontology of the
Wealden is as yet but imperfectly explored, and that many a relic of
the past has still to be brought to light.

Though so much has been said, and well said, respecting the ac-
cumulations to which the name of Wealden has been given, the
interest attached to them can scarcely be considered less now than
when, in years past, we were first made acquainted with their general
character. To detect fluviatile and estuary deposits of that geolo-
gical epoch (a fortunate bending, squeezing, and denuding of the
rocks of part of England, exposing them for examination) was no
small advance in our knowledge of the distribution of land and sea
of the period. Additions, as you are well-aware, have since been
made to this first knowledge, and we see Dr. Mantell losing no op-
portunity of increasing it, so that now we can embrace a wider area
upon which to reason, and can better understand the spread of dry
land, in the area at present occupied by western Europe, anterior to
the submergence of so much of it beneath the adjoining seas, in
the waters of which the cretaceous deposits were effected. These
great changes in the relative areas overspread by sea and land at
different geological times possess the highest interest, particularly
when we consider them with reference to the various ranges of high

* The original memoir on the Iguanodon having been communicated to the
Royal Society, the paper in which these remains were described, with the assist-
ance of Dr. Melville, was also transmitted to that Society.

XXXVill PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

land, the frequent contortions of the rocks in mountains and else-
where, the different coast-lines, deep and shallow seas, the lakes and
rivers, and all the modifications of animal and vegetable life attend-
ing such changes and alteration of conditions. Attempts have from
time to time been made, from the facts known, to sketch the pro-
bable distribution of sea and land on certain parts of the earth’s
surface at what have been termed geological periods. No doubt we
have much to consider when we attempt to define geological periods,
such as the more sudden effects produced on some parts of the
earth’s surface, the more tranquil changes in others, and the in-
equality of these changes both as regards geological times, superficial
modifications, and their consequent effects on mechanical accumula-
tions and animal and vegetable life; yet all such attempts, if fairly
worked out according to the existing evidence, may be considered as
highly useful. We may expect in future years, as geological know-
ledge advances, that these sketches will more and more approach the
truth, so that the probable great rivers and lakes, mountain-ranges
and level tracts, forms of shores, and in fact the relief of the dry
lands, and depressions of the sea-bottom, of many geological times,
may, to a certain extent, be made apparent. And this we consider
by no means so visionary as might be imagined by those who are
not conversant with the kind of geological research now in progress.

To our old and staunch friend Mr. Lonsdale we are indebted for an
elaborate communication on the fossil zoophytes in the deposits ex-
posed between Atherfield and Rocken End, described by Dr. Fitton.
In it he takes general views of the subject, and enters into details
exhibiting that research and desire to attain the truth for its own
sake which characterise our colleague, and which contributed, while
he was an officer of our Society, so much to its welfare.

Mr. Lonsdale describes new genera and species, and enters largely
upon the views and opinions of previous authors. Let us hope that
the retirement, which ill-health compelled him to seek, may continue
to afford him the leisure and quiet requisite for communications such
as this, and that he will enrich our works with further contributions
on fossil corals, a branch of paleeontology to which he has devoted
so much attention.

Among the labours of our Foreign Secretary, Mr. Bunbury, during
his late travels on the continent, was included an examination of the
fossil plants from the anthracite formation of the Savoy Alps. The
results of this mvestigation he communicated to us in a memoir, in
which he not only describes the species of plants that came under
his observation, but also gave us a history of the researches and
opinions connected with the mode of occurrence of these plants, add-
ing general views of his own.

As you are aware, M. Elie de Beaumont was the first, in.1828, to
announce the fact, that near Petit Coeur in the Tarentaise, beds con-
taining an abundance of plants, of the same species as those disco-
vered in the coal-measures of the palzeozoic period, alternated with
other beds containing belemnites, and referred the whole to the

period of the lias. The plants were determined by M. Adolphe

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXix

Brongniart. Subsequently M. Elie de Beaumont published an account
of beds occurring between Brianc¢on and St. Jeane de Maurienne, and
imcluded them in the same series. Plants obtained from these rocks
were examined by M. Adolphe Brongniart, and identified by him
with those of the coal-measures. From all the facts M. Elie de
Beaumont inferred, that the beds with belemnites and ammonites,
and those containing the plants, were parts of one whole, and that
whole referable to the date of the lias and part of the oolitic series.

This announcement was startling to those who were accustomed to
consider that the animal and vegetable life existing at each geological
period had been so entirely swept away, and replaced by new species
at another, that no species of one geological period would have its
existence prolonged into another. The view of M. Elie de Beaumont
was in consequence considered to require confirmation, and thus the
subject remained, as Mr. Bunbury has pointed out, until the meeting
of the Geological Society of France, at Chambery, in 1844, when the
observations of the members present led them to adopt the opinions
of M. Elie de Beaumont.

When at Turin in 1848, Mr. Bunbury carefully examined the fos-
sil plants from the Tarentaise in the Museum. In this examination
he experienced difficulties from the imperfect preservation of the
plants, their confused mixture and distortion, and from the injury to
the structure caused by their replacement by a coating of tale. The
specimens in the Turin Museum afforded Mr. Bunbury fourteen dif-
ferent forms, for he will not venture to call them species, of which
nine are Ferns, two Calamites, and three Asterophyllites or Annula-
riz. ‘‘ Two of these ferns,” he observes, “ Odontopteris Brardit
and Pecopteris cyathea, may be pronounced with tolerable certainty
to be identical with characteristic and well-known plants of the coal-
measures. Three, or perhaps four, others have a strong resemblance
to coal-measure plants, with which they may probably be specifically
identical, but,’ he continues, “1 cannot feel certain of them. An-
other.seems to be a remarkable and hitherto unnoticed variety of
Odontopteris Brardii, connecting that species with O. obtusa of
Brongniart. The eighth is perhaps a new species, but its nearest
allies are plants of the coal formation. Of the ninth, the specimens
are too imperfect to admit of determination. Of the remaining plants,
Calamites approximatus and Annularia longifolia appear to be ab-
solutely identical with coal-measure plants; and the other two, dn-
nularie or Asterophyllites, are at least very similar to carboniferous
forms. The other calamite is undeterminable.”

The occurrence of similar plants at the Col de Balme, and in the
mountains above Servoz and Martigny, is then noticed, as also the
absence of belemnites in beds interstratified with the others in those
localities. The plants obtained by Mr. Bunbury from the neigh-
bourhood of Chamonix, and those seen by him in the Museum at
Geneva, consisted of eight Ferns, one Calamite (species undetermi-
nable) and one Asterophyllites. A well-preserved specimen of Lepz-
dodendron ornatissimum, of Brongniart, was pointed out to jim by
M. Ele de Beaumont in the collection at the Ecole des Mines at

xl PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Paris, brought from beds at the Col de Chardonet, near Briancon,
referred ‘‘ to the uppermost part of the Alpine Anthracite formation,
and probably equivalent to the Oxford clay.” It thus appears that
the researches of Mr. Bunbury lead him to conclude, with M. Adolphe
Brongniart, that the plants from the beds noticed present a general
agreement with those found in the coal-measures.

It will be fresh in your recollection, that the mixture or rather al-
ternation of beds contaming belemnites with others full of plants re-
sembling those commonly found in our coal-measures engaged the
attention of my predecessor in this Chair, Mr. Horner, and that he
pointed to the probability that it might be an instance of species
which had a wide range in space having had also a long duration in
time, calling your attention to the wide spread of similar plants over
certain northern regions of our globe at apparently the same geologi-
cal time. This explanation does not satisfy Mr. Bunbury, masmuch
as other plants are known to be found elsewhere in European accu-
mulations between the periods of the coal-measures and the oolitic
series inclusive, admitting however that in the Permian system of
Sir Roderick Murchison the character of the entombed plants closely
resembles that of those of the coal-measures. He more particularly
observes on the difference of the plants in the grés bigarré of Alsace,
remarking on the common spread of certain ferns at the present day
over Europe, and of the same tribe of plants over wide areas at the
period of the coal-measures. He also points out the small geogra-
phical distance of the localities in which the remains of these dissimilar
plants are found in the rocks noticed, and calls attention to the
observations of M. Scipion Gras, who states that the Jurassic rocks,
occurring in their ordinary condition in the department of the Isére,
contain impressions of plants entirely different from those of the
Alpine anthracite. He admits however at the same time that there
are instances of the isolated occurrence of tropical plants, especially
Ferns and Lycopodia, mm temperate regions, far beyond their ordinary
geographical range, as, for example, the growth of Trichomanes ra-
dicans in Ireland, and of Lycopodium cernuum in the Azores. Mr.
Bunbury then adverts to the hypotheses of M. Adolphe Brongniart,
that the plants in question may have been drifted from regions in
which the coal-measure plants still continued to grow,—in the same
manner as seeds are now drifted from the tropical regions on the
American side of the Atlantic to the shores of Europe, in part, per-
haps, becoming enveloped in deposits near land, where plants similar
to those producing such seeds do not occur. While he admits that
this hypothesis is the most plausible under existing information, and
that he has none more satisfactory to offer, Mr. Bunbury does not
see his way out of the difficulty.

Of all organic remains, perhaps those of land plants would appear
to afford us the least direct information as to the climate, at different
geological periods, of the low or slightly elevated countries bordering
seas in various parts of the world, except we can obtain something
like evidence of the plants themselves having flourished so near the
level of the seas of the time, that slight changes in that level pro-

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. xli

duced alternations of deposits, which should at one time contain the
remains of marine animals which inhabited the coast seas, and were
quietly entombed, and at another the remains of plants, showing their
growth on the spot. Such evidence we seem to possess at two distinct
periods in the north of England, where we detect alternations of coal
beds, with their underclays, and limestones with marine animal re-
mains of the carboniferous time; and also find a coal accumulation,
with some plants apparently in the position in which they grew, of
the oolitic series. In both cases the evidence would be in favour of
quiet depressions, low districts with land plants growing upon them
so sinking beneath sea-water, that marine creatures swarmed over the
previous dry land, their remains entombed amid detrital deposits
effected at the time.

Viewing the actual and varied altitudes above the sea-level of lakes
in different parts of the world, the plants which may be drifted into
them and preserved amid any mud, sand, or calcareous matter depo-
sited in such lakes, give us no just idea of the climate of the time at
the sea-level in the same latitudes. For instance, the plants drifted
into the lakes of Switzerland and Northern Italy, some of which may
even be swept from heights approaching lines of perpetual snow,
would not give us the climate of the coast of the Bay of Biscay be-
tween the Sadne and the Gironde, though in the same general latitude.
Then, again, as to the conditions for the transport of plants or their
parts to situations where portions of them may be more or less pre-
served in detrital matter, much has to be considered. Though floods
in high regions tear up trees and smaller plants in their course, the
chances of any of the plants reaching sea-coasts depend upon a va-
riety of conditions, among which proximity to the sea is one of no
inconsiderable importance. ‘Thus we have seen the arborescent ferns
and other plants of the higher lands of Jamaica swept by floods into
the adjoming seas (becoming entangled in part among the mangrove
swamps at the mouths of the rivers), the distance having been so
short, that many stems of the fern trees, their fronds, and those
of other ferns of the higher regions, were not much injured. No
mere swelling of the rivers from rains on the lower grounds, which did
not cause torrents to wash away plants in the higher lands, would
bring down a frond of these ferns ; it would, however, sweep on many a
lowland plant, and not a few of those which grew in the river courses
during the dry weather, into the mangrove swamps and the sea.

In great rivers, the leaves, as they fall from trees overhanging the
water, are floated onwards and often carried quietly to sea, sometimes
from long distances inland. Plants and their parts may, under fa~
vourable conditions, be washed into, and be preserved in the mud of
climates where they do not grow. They may be thus brought by the
Mississippi, the Paraguay, the Nile, and the great rivers of Northern
Asia flowing from south to north, and be preserved under climates
differmg from those where they flourished. We have no reason to
suppose that the conditions of continents, as regards the flow of rivers
into the sea, were not very various during long lapses of geological
time, and we should very carefully avoid permitting our view of the

xii PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

relative disposition of land and water at former periods to be biased
too far by their present arrangement.

Every autumn our European rivers are full of leaves which have
quietly fallen into them. Some get washed on the banks, while
others are left upon low grounds when the waters may have been
more swollen at one time than another. Some get borne backwards
and forwards by the tides in estuaries, and are accumulated in the
mud, entangled with the remains of estuary animals and plants ;
but many get washed to sea, particularly if off-shore winds prevail at
the time. Probably many of these become saturated with sea-water
and fall to the bottom amid the remains of marme molluscs and other
animals, and are thus entombed with them amid any detritus there
accumulating. Some we know are thrown on shore, at various di-
stances from the river-mouths, according to the prevalence of the
winds of the time, and the relative bearmg of these upon the coasts
of the locality, and become intermingled with various marine animal
and vegetable remains.

The extent to which trees and smaller plants are washed during
floods out of the great rivers of the world, and floated outwards to
situations where they fall within the mfluence of ocean currents and
prevalent winds, is very considerable, and it is very needful to bear this
in mind when we have no satisfactory evidence as to the growth of
plants at or near the localities where we find their fossil remains.
Little islets of matted plants are thus sometimes floated away, and it
will depend upon the weather they may encounter how long they
may keep together before they become broken up by the seas, and
fall to the bottom. Although the counter-current along the Atlantic
shore of the United States may tend to carry plants washed out
from the rivers of that part of North America to the southward,
the Gulf Stream is still enabled to transport plants and their parts
from Cuba and the Bahamas (the prevalent trade-winds even perhaps
drifting them from Haiti) northerly towards Newfoundland. Taking
the Gulf Stream and its counter-current along the American shore as
constants, we may have two north and south belts beneath, im one of
which the remains of plants from the north are accumulated, and in
the other those from the south, indicating climates which do not cor-
respond with those of the dry land of America in the same latitudes.
Such lines of transport—and there would appear to be many of them—
and the probable fallmg of plants and their parts to the bottom during
a long period of time, have to be regarded when we consider deposits
wherein the remains of plants which may not have grown on the
spot are entombed. There may be situations where little detrital
matter now settles, but where drifted vegetable matter may accumulate
from the repetition of certain annual effects continued through long
time, as well as those deposits which we infer have been the result
of the growth of plants on or near the spot where their remains are
now found. When we consider all the conditions under which the
remains of plants may be accumulated, and the difficulty often of de-
termining the real character of the plants themselves *, it would ap-

* See Dr. Hooker’s Remarks, Memoirs of the Geological Society, vol. ii.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. xliii

pear desirable to obtain more information respecting the distribution
of fossil plants at different geological times than we now possess,
before we conclude that we have evidence enough to speak of the
characteristic plants of different geological epochs with the confidence
sometimes used. It would appear very desirable, under present in-
formation, to regard the subject more locally and always with refer-
ence to the probable physical conditions under which the plants may
have been entombed.

In his communication on the Silurian slates and coal of the neigh-
bourhood of Oporto, Mr. Sharpe gives descriptions of Isotelus
Powisii ?, Illenus Lusitanicus (n. s.), Orthis Noctilio (n. s.), Orthis
Miniensis (n. s.), Orthis Duriensis (n.s.), Orthis Lusitanica (n. s.),
Orthoceras remotum (Salter MS.), and Bellerophon Duriensis (n. s.),
all found in those beds.

To Professor Owen we are indebted for a description of saurian
remains discovered by Professor Henry Rogers in a greensand deposit
of the United States, considered referable to the age of part of the
cretaceous accumulations of Europe. The specimens placed before
Professor Owen enabled him to add some facts to the osteology of
the Mosasaurus, and to discover some species of saurians, especially
of the proccelian form of crocodile, not previously known in strata
older than the tertiary deposits termed eocene. After very import-
ant osteological details respecting the Mosasaurus, which require to
be studied in the memoir itself in order fully to appreciate the labours
of our colleague upon this subject, he states that, considering certain
of the bones to belong to the Mosasaurus, ‘‘ they indicate the extre-
mities of that great saurian to have been organized according to the
type of the existing Lacertia, and not of the Enaliosauria or marine
lizards,’ and adds, ‘‘two species, at least, of true Lacertia have left
their remains in our English chalk.”’

Professor Owen next notices some remains of a proccelian reptile,
and proposes to indicate the saurian, and probably mosasauroid
genus to which it belongs by the name of Macrosaurus. Upon
other remains he establishes the genus Hyposaurus, an Amphiccelian
crocodile, and then notices specimens from the same localities laid
before him by Professor Henry Rogers, which he remarks are “the
first evidences of the genus of the modern Crocodilus or Alligator
that have been discovered in strata older than the eocene tertiary.”

The accumulations amid which these saurians have been de-
tected are inferred, from the marine remains found in them, to be of
the same age as part of the cretaceous series of Western Europe,
similar marine molluses having been considered to exist and to have
been entombed in mineral matter at the same geological period in
the seas surrounding the shores of land in the areas now occupied by
the United States and Western Europe. The remains described by
Professor Owen thus possess not only high interest as additions to the
forms of life which have existed at different times on our earth, but
also as showing the co-existence of certain saurian and molluscous
forms at equal geological times. We have thus the modern croco-
dile or alligator (living probably much in the same way as the spe-

xliv PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

cies of the same genus do in the present day, namely in rivers and
estuaries), borne into seas in which molluses of the same kinds as
have their remains entombed in our cretaceous rocks, were living.

From the general characters of the other saurians found we should
also infer that their habits were not such as to render the sea among
their usual haunts, but rather that they lived in rivers and estuaries,
occasionally coming on the adjoiming lands. When we look at the
lithological characters of the beds im which these remains are en-
tombed, as well as to the state in which the bones are preserved, it
at once becomes evident that they have been carried to the situations
at or near which they are now discovered, by being rendered specifi-
cally lighter than they now are, or formerly could have been. In
fact we seem required to consider that flesh was on the bones when
they were borne into the seas, amid the deposits and creatures living
at the time, in which they are detected. However difficult it may
be to wash crocodilian animals into the adjoining seas from out
many of the great rivers of the world where these creatures live in
multitudes, more particularly where mangrove swamps abound at
their embouchures, this is not the case with the short torrent rivers
descending from high lands into the seas surrounding islands, as for
instance Jamaica and Hayti. During a great flood in the Yellahs
river, one which takes its rise in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica,
and at whose mouth and in the adjoming mangrove swamps the
caimans are common, the body of water was so great as to sweep
these crocodilians off to sea, where it may be presumed some
perished, to leave their bones, at least such as were not swallowed by
the large fish, to be mingled with the remains of marine molluses
now living in those seas. In cases of floods of this kind, the sudden-
ness of which can be scarcely appreciated by those who have not
witnessed the waters of heavy tropical rains discharged by means of
a short steep course from high mountains into the sea, many a river
and estuary air-breathing creature gets overpowered and carried off
before it can reach the protection of eddies near the banks; and
should there be a heavy sea going at the time, as sometimes happens
when a hurricane is accompanied by floods of rain, there is a poor
chance of their escape from drowning, however well-fitted for living
in rivers and estuaries under ordinary conditions.

True to his promise to add to our palichthyological information,
as given in his first memoir read during the past year, Sir Philip
Egerton communicated at our last meeting a paper on the affinities
of the genus Platysomus. After adverting to the opinions of differ-
ent authors, and especially to that of Agassiz, Sir Philip mentions
that Mr. King, of Newcastle, had recently submitted to him a spe-
cimen of Platysomus macrurus, from the magnesian limestone of
Ferry Hill, revealmg its dentition, whence it became evident that
this genus was a true Pycnodont. A detailed account of its den-
tition is given, and it is stated that the genus Globulodus must
be cancelled. Conferrmg with his friend Professor Agassiz, Sir
Philip Egerton received from him a complete agreement in the view
that the genus Platysomus should be included among the Pyeno-

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. xlv

donts ; and alluding to the difficulty he had experienced with respect
to its heterocercal tail, the Professor remarks that he now expects to
find that character in fishes of various families detected amid the
oldest accumulations as well as in the youngest embryo state of our
actual fishes. Sir Philip Egerton has satisfied himself that “ the
generic characters of Platysomus are in close affinity with those of
Gyrodus and Microdon, but that it differs from these and all other
known Pycnodonts in having a heterocerque tail.” It is gratifying
thus to see two cultivators of the same branch of science working so
completely in harmony, and conferring with each other so amicably
on points of difference ; so that instead of conclusions being hostilely
retained which may no longer be tenable,—and the progress of all
branches of science shows us how first-impressions have to be modi-
fied,—truth becomes the only object, no matter by whom it may be
brought to light.

To Mr. Morris we are indebted for a communication on Neritoma,
a fossil genus of gasteropodous molluscs allied to Nerita. He shows
that the shells in question, though allied to Nerita, are yet aberrant
from it, and that they become interesting from connecting the true
Nerites with Amphibola, and as adding another stance of certain
genera of molluscs with analogous forms presenting the similar cha-
racter of a greater or less sinus on the outer lip. The fossil whence
the generic description is given was from the upper portion of the
Portland beds, at Swindon, Wiltshire, and was also interesting as
distinctly exhibiting the markings on the surface.

Though this is the only communication from Mr. Morris durmg
the past year in the form of a single paper, we have to thank our
able colleague for his constant readiness to assist the labours of others
of our contributors of memoirs whenever they may request him so
to do, and for thus adding to our stock of that knowledge which the
talents of Mr. Morris so qualify him to advance, and for the further-
ance of which we could wish him more leisure than his occupations
now present.

Superposition of Rocks, their supposed equivalents in different re-
gions, and general classification.

In a memoir on the principal geological features of the salt-field
of Cheshire and the adjoining districts, Mr. Ormerod has presented
us with numerous facts respecting the occurrence of rock-salt and
brine-springs in that part of England, the beds in which the salt and
brine are found, and the older rocks on which these beds repose. The
latter constitute the range of coal-measures running northerly from
Cheadle and Newcastle-under-Lyne on the south, towards Man-
chester and Stayley Bridge on the north, a small portion of mountain
or carboniferous limestone rising in an elongated anticlinal ridge
near Congleton. These older rocks are well-known to have been dis-
turbed, crumpled and fractured anterior to the deposits commonly
known as the New Red Sandstone, the latter resting unconformably
upon and entering valleys in the former, many a patch, not yet
removed by denudation, showing the covering of these red mazrls,

xlvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

sandstones and conglomerates to have been once iar more extensive
than it now is.

The details given by Mr. Ormerod respecting the occurrence of
the brine and rock-salt are not only valuable as regards geological
information, but important practically, as he touches upon many
points which cannot fail to aid those who may be seeking for brine
and salt in that district.

It may be scarcely needful to remind you that the beds containing
the salt and brine (the latter merely a solution of the former, by
means of the water percolating amid the saliferous beds in those upper
marls of the new red sandstone series of the central portion of En-
gland,) are referred to a series of deposits known in Germany as the
Keuper ; a term employed by Mr. Ormerod in his descriptions of
these beds. The salt would appear to be distributed in flattened
portions of irregular figures, and disseminated through certain beds.
As might be expected, sinkings of the upper ground take place when
the brine-springs have removed the salt in situations sufficiently near
the surface for this effect to be produced.

At Northwich the upper bed of salt is considered to vary in thick-
ness from 84 to 90 feet, thinning off to the south-west, and losing 15
feet of thickness in about a mile. Its upper surface is uneven, pre-
senting cones and irregular figures. Beneath this bed is one of mdu-
rated clay, traversed by veins of salt, and 30 feet thick. Under this
comes the second or great bed of salt, for the depth of 60 to 75 feet
containing a considerable admixture of earth, so that this portion is
not worked. The next 12 or 15 feet is more pure, and the salt is
extracted from it. Beneath the earthy admixture becomes so consi-
derable, that, like the upper portion, it is unworked. At a pit at
Marston, northward from Northwich, the second bed of salt was sunk
through, and found to be there 96 feet thick. In other places it was
not passed through after smking 117 feet. .

Mr. Ormerod estimates the thickness of the gypsiferous and sali-
ferous beds at Northwich and Middlewich at more than 700 feet.
The strata technically termed water-stone beds, supporting these, he
considers to be 400 feet thick, and others beneath, to which he applies
the name Bunter sandstein, from their supposed identity in geolo-
gical position with the beds so termed in Germany, at 600 feet; thus
giving 1700 feet for the total thickness of the new red sandstone
accumulations of Cheshire, one which Mr. Ormercd nevertheless con-
siders as far below the real depth.

From the care taken by Mr. Ormerod, his paper becomes a valua-
ble addition to our knowledge of the upper parts of that remarkable
accumulation of beds, a group of much interest, to which the English
geologists have given the name New Red Sandstone. With regard
to the saline character of its upper part, as shown in the district de-
scribed by Mr. Ormerod, you are aware that many hypotheses have
been brought forward to account for the occurrence of rock-salt amid
rocks of this and other geological periods. No doubt we should not
limit ourselves to one view of the mode of occurrence of salt and beds
highly impregnated with sale matter, when several explanations

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. xlvu

may be open to us; but looking at the distribution of the salt amid
such accumulations as those noticed by Mr. Ormerod, and at the in-
formation (scanty though it may be on some very essential points)
which we possess respecting the saline lakes and salt deposits of the
great depression of Asia, it would be very desirable to have careful
comparisons made as regards the probable accumulation of the saline
deposits of England from the evaporation of salt water in minor basins
amid mud and sand. ‘There are many interesting facts of importance
in this inquiry known as to the isolation of minor portions of the
lakes in the great depressed area of Asia, the evaporation in which
appears more considerable than the supply of water. After a long
lapse of time salt not only constitutes great cakes, or lenticular masses
of various dimensions and forms, but remains also in the dried-up
ground ; the latter finally so deprived of moisture in many localities
as to be blown about, forming deserts. The water eventually remain-
ing is gathered here and there in salt lakes, more or less modified in
their saline contents by the various salts carried by running waters
into them, and they will remain as such so long as the supply of rain-
and river-water equals the evaporation. We should expect salt to be
well-diffused amid sands and mud accumulated in the sea, and not to
be washed out except under conditions, such as that of the so-formed
beds being elevated above the ocean-level, when the percolation of
waters derived from the atmosphere would carry off in solution the
chloride of sodium and soluble matter, restoring to the sea that which
had been entangled amid the deposits previously formed in it. In
point of fact, we find chloride of sodium a very common substance
in spring and river waters.

From the pattering about of reptiles at the period of our new red
sandstone, as shown by their foot-marks left in certain localities, we
may infer, whatever the inequalities and varieties of depths may have
been after the exertion of the force which so disturbed the coal-
measures and other older rocks of the British area, and thrust a por-
tion of them as dry land into the atmosphere, that as the deposits
went on very shallow water skirted the lands. With shallow water
slight changes of the relative level of sea and land would produce
considerable surface modifications. Many depressions around the
coast of the British islands would be converted into salt lakes if the
bottom of the surrounding seas were elevated, and the sea-water left
evaporated, should there then be an insufficient supply of rain-water.

The mode of occurrence of the footprints above noticed is such,
more particularly when we regard the evidence of cracks filled up in
the same beds, that we can scarcely doubt the mud or silt upon
which the animals trod to have been subaérial at the time, and that
it was afterwards covered by water bringing detritus with it. In
estuaries or gulfs where spring tides attain a great height, such as in
the Bristol Channel or in the Bay of Fundy, the space left between
spring and neap tides is often considerable, and the tracks of birds
and mammals are common upon the mud so exposed, particularly
those of the former. In summer weather this may be well seen on
the shores of the Bristol Channel near the embouchures of the Avon

xlvni PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

and Wye. The geologist who observes these tracks, their hardened
state from exposure to a hot sun, and the cracks in the general sur-
face of mud, will not fail to see the resemblance of such surfaces to
those laid bare in quarries, where the tracks of animals are found.
He has but to suppose a gradual sinking of the mass of such land
beneath the sea, and take into account all the modifications which
would arise from alterations in the heights of tide, and spread of mud
flats, to see how readily the results would resemble those deposits in
which bird-tracks have been found by Professor Hitchcock and
others in America, and amid the new red sandstones in Europe.

A communication was made to you by Professor Ramsay and
Mr. Aveline, giving the results of examinations by the Geological
Survey of parts of North and South Wales, it being thought highly
desirable that this branch of the public service should aid the pro-
gress of the Geological Society whenever opportunities might occur.
In this communication the authors point out that, on the south and
south-east of the Dolgelly and Bala district, certain bands of sand-
stone, though comparatively of triflg thickness, are important as
explaining the structure of Wales. These are local and intermittent,
in part skirting the base of the overlying rocks through Montgomery-
shire and Radnorshire far down into South Wales. Above these
sandstones are slaty shales, 1000 to 1500 feet thick, and, resting
upon the latter, sandstones, mingled with occasional shales, about
2000 feet thick. These the authors refer to the Caradoc sandstone
of Sir Roderick Murchison. They support the Wenlock shales, in
their turn surmounted by the Ludlow rocks of Montgomeryshire.

It is shown that the slates and associated contemporaneous igneous
rocks of the country north of Bishop’s Castle rise from beneath the
Wenlock shales of Montgomeryshire, and present the same characters
as the slates and igneous rocks of Merionethshire, resting on the
purple, green, and grey sandstones of the Longmynds, which occupy
the same position as the Barmouth sandstones of Merionethshire
and Caernarvonshire. A mere trace of Caradoc sandstones is occa-
sionally seen between the Wenlock shales and the older rocks of the
Bishop’s Castle district. The Wenlock shales run across the strike
of these older rocks.

On the north-east of Welshpool, black slates and associated con-
temporaneous igneous rocks again emerge from beneath the Wenlock
shales. On the north of Builth the same rocks are seen lapped
nearly round by Wenlock shale, without the intervention of Caradoc
sandstone. At Llanwrtyd and Baxter’s Bank, Radnorshire, similar
rocks rise up amid black slates, and at St. David’s, Pembrokeshire,
contemporaneous igneous rocks with associated black slates come to
the surface, and repose on rocks similar to the Barmouth sandstones
and the old deposits of the Longmynds.

It is incidentally noticed that ‘‘the igneous rocks which occasion-
ally appear in the line of the great Shropshire and Radnorshire fault
are of different date and structure from those heretofore alluded to.
They are always massive (greenstones, syenites, &c.); they imva-
riably appear in the line of great dislocation, and alter by baking, or

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. xlix

semi-fusion, whatever strata they may chance to come in contact
with, of whatever age those strata may be.”

From the mode in which the equivalent of the Caradoc sandstone
reposes on the Longmynd beds, lying unconformably upon them, and
from being composed of water-worn pebbles derived from them, the
authors infer that this accumulation formed the coast boundary of
the sea of the time. So that from this circumstance and other facts
noticed, Professor Ramsay and Mr. Aveline consider the Longmynd
country to have constituted dry land washed by a sea at a level equal
to the Caradoc sandstone accumulations of the vicinity.

Tracing the western boundary of the Caradoc sandstone northward
it is found several hundred feet above the Bala limestone, north-east
from Dinas Mowddy, and in its progress north and west it gradually
creeps over the various beds, so that at Yspytty Evan it occurs at
the level of that limestone, provmg an overlap. Approaching Builth,
the Caradoc series turns off eastward, as if the boss of older rocks to
the northward of that place had formed a barrier to their further
extension in that direction. Further south they have not been seen,
and they would appear there and around the older rocks of Builth
to be overlapped by the Wenlock shales.

The authors infer, from the unconformity of the Caradoc and Wen-
lock deposits, in connection with the old coast-line of the Longmynds
and Bishop’s Castle series, that both at Builth and Bishop’s Castle,
the older rocks rose above the level of the sea at the time when the
Caradoc sandstone was formed, this land becoming gradually de-
pressed during the deposit of the Wenlock and Ludlow rocks. Thus
this dry land became covered by thousands of feet of sands and mud
mingled with the remains of marine animals, geological changes having
now again brought this old surface, denuded of its great covering,
above the level of the sea, so that it again forms dry land.

It will be scarcely necessary to call attention to the importance of
these facts and the views connected with them. Deposits of the age
of the Llandeilo flags, with the older strata on which they repose, upset
and bent, rising above a sea, and by their loss from breaker-action
on the coasts and the abrasion from atmospheric influences inland,
forming sand and mud beds around them, in which the remains of
the marine animals of the time became entombed, and this at a
period when, as far as our present mformation extends, the earliest
kind of life established on our globe was yet unchanged in its general
character. Thus it is that by careful and minute study we obtain a
glimpse of the probable distribution of land and sea at this period in
part of the area now occupied by the British islands,—much doubtless
that was then contemporaneous as dry land being cut away by denu-
ding forces during the progress of geological time, the matter removed
transported around, much of it often used over and over again, con-
stituting other rocks, and a large portion of the old rocks which may
be still remaining in their places of original deposit being covered
over by these more modern deposits, or concealed beneath the sea.

Mr. Beete Jukes and Mr. Alfred Selwyn have presented us with a
sketch of the structure of the country extending from Cader Idris to

VOL. V.—PART I. d

] PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Moel Siabod, in North Wales, also the result of their labours on the
Geological Survey. They show that a series of sandstones and con-
glomerates, with some beds of purple and blue slates, and occa-
sionally trap rocks, about 3000 feet thick, constitute the base of
that part of Wales. These are known as the Barmouth and Harlech
sandstones, constituting the land which borders the coast, at and
between those places, and forming the lower part of an irregular
dome-shaped mass, dipping, where covered by other rocks, beneath
the next or trappean group. This, with some flexures belonging to
it, is well known to you from the descriptions of Professor Sedgwick,
constituting his ‘Great Merioneth Anticlinal.’

The trappean group is so named from containing igneous rocks,
some felspathic, others hornblendic, with beds of ‘ash,’ probably
ejected into the air from volcanic vents and, falling in water, arranged
like ordinary detritus by tides and currents, as noticed in the address
of last year. The authors separate this group, to the whole of
which they assign a thickness of 15,000 feet, into two divisions, the
lower containing blue and grey slates and flagstones, and known as
the Lingula beds, an abundance of that shell, with some other fossils,
being discovered in them. In the upper division are many inter-
stratified beds of black slate, often occurring as irregular and lenti-
cular masses, and graduating into ‘ash.’ Lingule and graptolites
are found in these beds, though not very abundantly.

Upon these deposits rests the Bala group, estimated at 9000 feet
thick. This is divided into a lower series, composed of black slates,
of variable thickness, fine-grained and brittle, the true lamination
being often entirely concealed by cleavage and numerous joints ;—
and an upper series formed of a grey arenaceous slate, often passing
into a hard splintery grit. In the lower part of this latter division
there are one or two beds of trappean ash, and in its centre occurs
the limestone so well known as the Bala limestone, celebrated for its
organic remains. Sometimes, but very rarely, there is a band of
limestone in its upper part, of which the Hirnant limestone is an
example.

The authors state that almost all the igneous rocks of the trap-
pean group are contemporaneous with the beds amid which they are
found, the ash beds formed from igneous materials arranged in
water,—the gradual passage above and beneath the more solid trap-
pean rocks showing that ‘its exhibition was intimately connected
with the commencement and end of the igneous action which pro-
duced them.”

It may not be here out of place to mention that the progress of
the Geological Survey has shown, that after the dip of the Bar-
mouth and Harlech sandstones north-westward beneath the trappean
group of Snowdon and its associated mountains, they rise again,
though with diminished thickness, in the line of country passing
across the Llanberis lakes, resting upon those highly cleaved purple
beds, so extensively employed for roofing-slates, in the valleys of
Nant Francon, Llanberis, and Llanllyfni. These slates repose on
and are interstratified with sandstones and conglomerates, mingled

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. ii:

with trappean rocks, im their turn resting upon a mass of black slates,
which cover other sandstones and conglomerates well-seen in the
vicinity of Bangor. Still lower rocks are found in Anglesea, chiefly
micaceous and chloritic slates, mixed occasionally with quartz rocks,
of which those forming the Holyhead mountain afford excellent ex-
amples, with here and there also some calcareous matter, even form-
ing limestone.

Having received a letter from Professor Naumann of Leipsic
respecting certain sandstones and schistose clays of the environs of
Oschatz, referring these rocks to the Permian system, Sir Roderick
Murchison communicated this letter to the Society, with a few re-
marks recalling your attention to the reasons which had induced
him to assign the name of Permian to the accumulation of deposits
of which the roth-liegende of German geologists forms the base, and
which also includes their zechstein and kupferschiefer. Professor
Naumann mentions the discovery in these deposits of Calamites gigas,
a fern allied to Sphenopteris erosa, and many plants differing from
those of the coal-measures, and stated that many of the ichthyolites
are similar to the Paleoniscus or Amblypteris, and to the Xena-
canthus of Beyrich. The general mineral aspect of the lower beds,
white sandstone and greyish schists, referred to the roth-liegende,
and about 800 feet thick, is stated to resemble that of the coal-
measures, above which come (1) quartziferous porphyry, (2) red
sandstones, (3) zechstein (30 to 60 feet thick only), and (4) red
and mottled clays.

Although generally in the British islands we have so much evi-
dence of a great disturbance of deposits, after those to which we
have given the name of coal-measures, so that the various beds of the
new red sandstone series of English geologists are discovered resting
unconformably upon such portions of these older rocks as may have
been beneath the waters in which the newer accumulations were
effected, we should expect to find beyond the area so disturbed, evi-
dence as to a passage of the one series into the other. Moreover we
are not to suppose the ocean blotted out from the face of the globe,
while deposits, marking the growth of plants over great areas, were
taking place in apparently fresh waters during our coal-measure
period. We have to expect also equivalent accumulations in equal
geological time entirely marine, from equivalents inclusive of the
carboniferous limestone, which of course need not contain a limestone
bed in them where there was no supply of calcareous matter from the
harder parts of marine animals or from springs, to equivalents of the
oolitic series of western Europe inclusive, and which may also have
been formed in certain regions under totally different conditions.

By regarding deposits on the great scale, particularly when land
plants that may have grown upon the beds above which their re-
mains now form coal, or that may only have been drifted moderate
distances, are concerned, and thus a fair admixture of land and water
be inferred, we shall eventually arrive at real equivalents in geological
time, and at the desirableness of particular groups and. divisions in
geological accumulations. It is interesting to consider that within

li PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

so moderate a distance as southern and northern England, while the
coal beds of the south do not contain marine admixtures for several
thousand feet in thickness, this is not the case when we proceed
northward, where we find coal beds, with deposits formerly mere
gravels, sands, clay and mud, intermingled with the marie animal
remains and calcareous strata of the carboniferous limestone period.

There would appear little doubt, that while we take the remains of
animal and vegetable life entombed in rocks for our chief guides,
dividing off vertically, so to speak, various portions of the deposits
which have taken place on the surface of our planet, it is extremely
useful to have many divisions made in different situations for reference.
Thus eventually, when larger portions of the earth’s surface become
more known than they now are as regards the distribution of land
and water at equal geological times, the classifications of the various
accumulations in vertical divisions according to the remains of animals
and plants found in them will be the better effected, and the com-
binations of physical conditions with the distribution of animal and
vegetable life at equal times will be the better understood.

As far as the series of deposits in this country, known to us as
magnesian limestone (equivalent to the German zechstein, with its
associated beds), and certain inferior and perhaps superior strata, are
concerned, it forms part of a greater series formed under similar
general physical conditions, and subsequently to a very important
physical change effected in the same area,—a great twisting, crump-
ling and squeezing of previous deposits, so that part of the latter
were above the seas of the time and part beneath. The general
evidence is that the parts above water became gradually depressed
to a certain level, gravels, sands and mud accumulating as a whole in
water containing much iron, probably mechanically suspended as a
peroxide, the gravels formmg old beaches often traceable, even up to
the time of the mixture of calcareous matter and mud of the lias, as
is well shown in Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, and South Wales.
Hence in our land the Permian series would become one wholly
founded upon paleontological considerations, inferences as to the
physical conditions under which it was here formed, leading us to
suppose it the base of deposits to the upper part of which the term
‘trias’ has of late years been applied. This may, however, turn out
to have been a mere local condition of part of western Europe, un-
disturbed accumulations elsewhere having been effected much more
generally, in which it may be as useful to make divisions as in other
deposits classified under the head of palzeozoic rocks, which we
sometimes find graduating into one another, and at other times in
contact in unconformable positions, according as the inferior rocks
may or may not have been disturbed anterior to their deposit. Much
has yet to be accomplished as to the history, so to speak, of the
rocks of this geological period, and more particularly as to the pro-
bable distribution of the land whence the gravels, sands and mud of
which they were formed have been derived. In the mean time all
aids towards this history are highly valuable, and hence such com-
munications as that of Professor Naumann are important, illustrating

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lui

as they do divisions in the accumulations of a particular geological
time, which Sir Roderick Murchison considers it is desirable to esta-
blish, from his researches in Russia and elsewhere, in Europe.

We are indebted to our Secretary, Mr. Carrick Moore, for an
account of some fossiliferous beds in the Silurian rocks of Wigton-
shire and Ayrshire, in which, after alluding to the labours of
Mr. Nicol, and stating that m the main the description given of
Peebleshire by Mr. Nicol is applicable to Wigtonshire and the south
of Ayrshire, he mentions that the rocks consist of coarse and thin-
bedded greywacke, clay-slate in which true slaty cleavage cannot be
detected, and igneous rocks, in Wigtonshire “ usually felspathic,
varying from a nearly pure felspar rock to a syenite.”’ Though the
igneous masses appear to follow the range of, and be interstratified
with, the sedimentary accumulations with which they are associated,
our colleague considers the coast sections as showing that when the
igneous beds are properly traced, they can be seen to cut the sedi-
mentary rocks, generally afterwards, nevertheless, resuming their
course with them. It is also remarked that these latter are altered
at the contact, becoming more or less porphyritic, dark shales changed
to white, and sometimes to red ; and these effects observable on both
sides of the dykes.

Mr. Carrick Moore then describes in detail the section exhibited
along the Irish Sea from the Mull of Galloway to Corswall Point.
He mentions a patch of granite near Dunman Hill, not previously
noticed, as worthy of attention from its being the only piece hitherto
observed on the surface between the granite of Carnsmuir on the
Cree, Kirkcudbrightshire, and that of the Morne Mountains, in
Ireland. A mass of syenite at Cairngarroch alters the adjoining
sedimentary rocks, and dykes of it are seen to cut them. Black
slates full of graptolites are mentioned at Morroch Bay ; slaty shales
and flags contain graptolites at Porto Bello Bay, and these fossils also
occur in a red flag or tilestone at Dally Bay, and in the continuation
of the same range of rocks at the Cairn. A limestone in the valley of
the Stincher afforded fossils, for the most part ill-preserved and not
numerous. Orthides however are well-preserved, and they were
abundant at Knockdolian.

_ It may be scarcely necessary to allude to the value of the organic

remains thus obtained by Mr. Carrick Moore, and the aid they
afford towards a good understanding of the geological age of the
beds in which they are found. Mr. Salter, who examined the col-
lection, obtained from the limestones of the Stincher river and the
slates of Loch Ryan, considers that these beds may be referred to
the age of the Lower Silurian rocks.

One of those conglomerates which may mark shores at this period,
or at all events conditions under which water-action could round and
transport pebbles and portions of rock having considerable size, is
noticed as occurring near the Corswall Lighthouse. The boulders
are sometimes as much as three, four, and even five feet in diameter,
showing the effects of no slight abrading force. Among the pebbles
and boulders, chiefly consisting of red quartziferous porphyry and

liv PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

grey syenite, serpentine and red jasper are found, and Mr. Carrick
Moore remarks, though serpentine occurs abundantly at the Bennan
Head, that that mass penetrates and alters sandstones newer than
the coal-measures. It might be hence inferred that in this locality
serpentine had been ejected at different periods. Indeed igneous
rocks seem to have been thrown out in this vicinity in no little
abundance and variety, and in tracing their connection with the sedi-
mentary deposits it becomes very desirable to study the different
dates at which they became intermingled. It may be expected that
while the igneous rock broke through existing deposits, altering the
latter when traversing them as dykes, or where the molten mass
may have overflowed them, yet that the superincumbent sedimentary
bed was deposited after such ejection of the igneous rock, which
thus at the same time appears to cut the beds of an association of
deposits, to which we may assign some given name, and yet is con-
temporaneous with the deposits taken generally. Indeed such facts
are sufficiently common.

Dr. Gesner, in that spirit which marks the cultivator of science
for its own sake, finding that his views respecting the geological po-
sition of the gypsum of Nova Scotia, and which you will remember,
were different from those of Sir Charles Lyell, has informed us that
in a new work by him on the industrial resources of Nova Scotia he
gives his reasons for not further supporting his first impressions
on that head. He now agrees with Sir Charles Lyell that the gyp-
sum occurs with the limestone beneath the coal-measures. Although
we know of no good reason why sulphate of lime should not occur, as
well in the geological situation noticed, as in those with which we are
more familiar in western Europe, it is still very useful to have this
disputed point as regards a particular district settled.

In his further observations on the geology of Ridgway, near Wey-
mouth, Mr. Weston states that the variegated clays and sands which
he had noticed in that vicinity are not local, but to be traced in Kent,
the south of Sussex, in the Isle of Wight and in other parts of Dor-
setshire, and that they are exposed upon the Brighton and London
Railway, in the vicinity of Balcombe and within Tilgate Forest. In
Sussex these variegated beds are very subordinate, but become more
developed to the westward. Mr. Weston cites the notice of these
beds by Dr. Fitton in his ‘ Geological Sketch of the vicinity of Hast-
ings.’ He remarks that they occur beneath the sandstone, with iron-
ore, noticed by Mr. Webster, and rest upon the shale with round
masses of sandstone and layers of argillaceous iron-ore of the same
author. Referrig to the view of Dr. Mantell, that this shale forms
the upper part of the Ashburnham beds of the Wealden series, Mr.
Weston places these variegated clays in the lowest part of the Worth
and Tilgate group, separating it from the Ashburnham beds. The
various colours of the clays he attributes to the different states of
oxidation of the iron in them.

In this communication many details are given of the author’s ob-
servations on the Hastings beds, equivalent to those of the Ridgway,
from Hythe, Kent, by Hastings, the Isle of Wight, Swanage Bay,

_ eee ee ee eee

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lv

Warbarrow Bay, Lulworth Cove, and to the Man-of-War and Durdle
Coves, where the last coast exhibition of the Wealden rocks is ob-
servable. Mr. Weston considers that he has fully established the
extension of the Hastings sands as far westward as Ridgway, and
he mentions finding the Purbeck beds at the end of the Corton
Range, spreading therefore with the Portland beds to the vicinity of
Portisham.

From the different physical conditions under which the oolitic se-
ries, and that of the Wealden above it, have been accumulated, all
facts tending to throw light on the extension of the various beds com-
posing the latter are valuable, as they enable us the better to judge
of the configuration of the area under the fitting conditions for the
minor and successive deposits. The oolitic series of southern England,
there is reason to believe, was accumulated within a gradually dimi-
nishing area, from a gradual rise and fillmg up of the sea-bottom,
so that finally dry land with soil and trees growing on it was esta-
blished, as for mstance near Weymouth. The detritus afterwards
accumulated in part of the previously marine area of England, and
in some parts of the continent of Europe, is now well understood
not to have reached a sea; and we may suppose the elevation of the
land to have gone on gradually for some time, throwing perhaps the
sea-coasts further off, though not of course preventing marine
accumulations of great importance of the same date in the area
now occupied by Europe and even probably in parts of England.
As careful observation becomes more extended we may hope to
obtain some evidence of the coast-lines of the time, as also of the
boundaries of freshwater accumulations, whether in great lakes, like
those of North America, or on the sides of large rivers. The occur-
rence of freshwater deposits is a considerable aid towards our know-
ledge of land and sea at different geological times, and the value of
getting the extreme points to which certain of them, even minor di-
visions of a series like that of the Wealden, may be found to range,
is always important. If we imagine a large part of Europe to be now
gradually raised 1000 feet, and then as gradually depressed 2000 feet,
and consider the various figures which the different intermixtures of
land and water would present, when the solid land was most elevated
and most depressed, as also ali the modifications during the period
of rise and depression, from altered sea-coast lines, the direction and
force of tidal streams, changed sub-aérial drainage areas, the courses
and variable magnitude of rivers, and the like, we may obtain some-
what of an idea of the physical modifications of various kinds effected
during the accumulation of the deposits known to us as the Wealden
and cretaceous series. We must however carefully guard against
supposing that this kind of rise and depression, with its consequences,
was anything out of the ordinary course of geological events. Every
day brings us evidence of the probable change of even the European
area, as regards land and water, at different geological times ; though,
of course, as those changes were the more ancient, the more difficult
it may be, from continued denudations and a multitude of overlaps
by less old deposits, to trace them, and find satisfactory evidence con-

lvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

nected with them. How far these great changes in various parts of
the earth’s surface may have been sometimes very gradual, at other times
marked by great local disturbances, remains to be carefully ascertaimed.
We seem to possess good facts respecting some of them, but it will be
evident that we must wait for very careful examinations of many re-
gions, including some supposed to be fairly known in this part of the
world, before we can gather together sufficient data on which to rea-
son correctly even respecting the European area.

From Mr. Prestwich we have had additional information respect-
ing the tertiary accumulations of Southern England, in a paper ‘*On
the Position and General Characters of the Strata exhibited on the
Coast Section from Christchurch Harbour to Poole Harbour.”’ In this
communication, after alluding to the change apparent in the lower
tertiary or eocene beds between the sections exposed at Alum Bay
and Whitecliff Bay, and to the descriptions of the coast he was about
to notice by Sir Charles Lyell, he proceeded to consider the relations
of the beds seen to the Barton clay, and to make some remarks on
their physical conditions. Reference was made to the interest af-
forded by the physical structure of the district, so much variation
in the deposits of the same age being observable. It is pointed out,
that while, on the east of the Isle of Wight, the series of accumula-
tions between the London and Barton clays consist of a thick repe-
tition of sands and clays, in which “the absence of strong drifts is
denoted by the abundant fossils and by the beds of shells im their
normal position, uninjured as at the moment of their entombment,”
and vegetable remains being scarce, at Alum Bay the case is differ-
ent. There ‘the remains of drifted vegetables are common; the
strata are strongly marked,—fresher, as it were, from their source ;
exhibit the action of stronger drifts, and do not contain a single fossil
to represent the 200 species abounding in the synchronous strata at
so short a distance eastward.”

Following up this view, Mr. Prestwich points to still further
irregularities of accumulation towards Poole, indicating an approach
to the sources of the transport of detritus into the seas of the time,
and calls attention to the geological interest arising from a proper
study of the ancient physical conditions obtaining at the period of
these deposits, however barren and unattractive they might at first
sight appear.

Researches of this kind are in the right direction. By them we
shall gradually approximate towards the causes of difference or re-
semblance observable in the accumulations of equal geological times,
—not only as respects such tertiary deposits as are here noticed, but
those of various ages,—which are so needful to consider when we
endeavour to account for the spread of varied mineral accumulations
over wide as well as minor areas. By carefully weighing the evi-
dences afforded of the physical conditions of given times with those
of the contemporary animal and vegetable life, by no means neglect-
ing the position as to latitude on the earth’s surface of any deposits
examined, we may hope to attain a far greater knowledge of the re-
lative disposition of land and water, of climates, and of the spread

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lvu

of animal and vegetable life as geological time rolled on and the sur-
face of our planet became modified in various ways, than by forcing
local classifications beyond their worth, or by merely taking one part
of the evidence without the other, as has been too frequently done.

In a memoir on the geology of the neighbourhood of Oporto, in-
cluding the Silurian coal of Vallongo, Mr. Sharpe furnished us with a
detailed account of a part of Portugal, of which, in 1832, he presented
a brief notice to this Society. After mention of the crystalline rocks
near Oporto, his section showing the granite of Oporto covered on the
W.S.W. and E.N.E. by gneiss, micaceous schist and chloritic schist,
he destribes a band of rocks, chiefly formed of clay-slates, resting upon
the eastern flank of the latter, and which, from the character of the
organic remains obtained from it, he refers to the Lower Silurian
deposits. The lowest part of this series is remarkable for contaming
several beds of anthracite, worked at San Pedro da Cora, eight miles
E.N.E. from Oporto. Mr. Sharpe states that the section is clear,
and that these lower beds, which repose on chloritic schist, evidently
dip beneath deposits containing Lower Silurian fossils. The upper
part of the group is formed of-a thick accumulation of micaceous
sandstone, usually yellow, with some grey carbonaceous sandstone
near the bottom. This rests on a black carbonaceous slate, among
which are bands of indurated ferruginous clay, passing into clay iron-
stone. Beneath this comes a dark grey or black hard clay-slate,
with softer chloritic beds of a pink or yellow colour in the lower part.
Notwithstanding its contortion, this slate series is considered to have
considerable thickness. The lower beds of the dark grey slates, and
those lighter coloured and softer at the base of the series, are rich in
organic remains (Calymene, Ogygia, Isotelus, Illenus, Chirurus,
Beyrichia, Orthis, Orthoceras, Bellerophon, Graptolithus, and
others), possessing a character from which Mr. Sharpe refers these
deposits to the Lower Silurian period.

Beneath these strata, in descending order, the carboniferous accu-
mulations of San Pedro da Cora occur, gradually passing into the
beds above them. These carboniferous beds consist in descending
order of (a) red sandstone, (6) coarse conglomerates alternating with
black carbonaceous shales, (c) coal, 6 feet thick, (d) coarse micaceous
conglomerate, alternating with black carbonaceous shales, (e) coal,
thin bed, (f) coarse carbonaceous conglomerate, (g) coal, four beds,
from 2 to 5 feet thick, variable however in thickness in different
places, the beds separated from each other by 3 or 4 feet of black
shale, and resting on black shale, and (/) slates apparently composed
of the débris of the chloritic schists on which they rest. The carbo-
naceous series is estimated at from 1000 to 1500 feet thick, and is seen
on the north bank of the Douro, at Jeremunde, twelve miles from
Oporto. North of San Pedro da Cora this series rapidly thins away,
and disappears about a mile and a half from that place.

_Having given a detailed account of the rocks referable to the Si-
lurian series, noticed by him in Portugal, Mr. Sharpe refers to the
beds described by Dr. Rebello de Carvalha as forming the chain of
the Serra de Marao, near Amarante ; those mentioned by M. Schulz

lvini PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

on the eastern side of Gallicia, by Link in the province of Tres os
Montes, and by Le Play in Spanish Estremadura, and infers that
these also may belong to the Silurian series.

The lithological characters of the carboniferous deposit of Val-
longo, thus plunging beneath beds containing organic remains re-
ferred to the date of the Lower Silurian deposits, are important, as
showing the physical conditions under which the accumulations have
been effected, and their general agreement with many other deposits,
in which sheets of vegetable matter have been so formed, as eventually
to have been turned into coal and anthracite, amid mud charged with
carbonaceous matter and beds of shingles. Why we should tot ex-
pect accumulations of the kind at this period, the fitting conditions
for the gathering together of plants or their remains, either by growth
on the spot or drift from their place of growth, so that they were
mixed with little or no common mud or other sedimentary matter,
does not appear. We find old mud accumulations, now forming
black slates, common enough in some parts of the Silurian series,
and there is no want of carbonaceous matter in the black slates of
North Wales and Ireland beneath the whole mass of the beds com-
monly referred to that series.

The occurrence of the anthracite beds in the position and under
the conditions stated by Mr. Sharpe, would be highly interesting in
itself, as showing to what extent clean or nearly clean accumulations
of vegetable matter may have been effected amid deposits m which
the carbonaceous, and, we may fairly conclude, vegetable matter was
generally more diffused amid mud and gravel; but the remains of
fossil plants detected in connection with this carbonaceous series are
still more interesting, always assuming that the sections seen by Mr.
Sharpe are unequivocal, as his certainly would appear to be, unless
we suppose a most enormous reversal of these deposits.

The remains of the plants found by Mr. Sharpe were submitted
to the examination of our Foreign Secretary, Mr. Bunbury, who,
though the specimens of ferns were in bad preservation, considered
that one bore a strong resemblance to Pecopteris Cyathea, of the
coal-measures ; another reminded him of Pecopteris muricata, and
a third of Neuropteris tenuifolia. Mr. Sharpe calls attention to the
evidence, as far as it goes, afforded by these plants, of a vegetation
having existed similar to that of the coal-measures at a geological
date long anterior to them. It would indeed be of the greatest geo-
logical importance to arrive at an insight into the kind of vegetation
that clothed the land, which furnished by its disintegration, abrasion,
and removal by river and breaker action into fitting places of de-
posit, those thick accumulations now known as the Silurian series.
We appear to have fair reason for concluding that, while the seas
swarmed with trilobites and molluscs, the dry land, supplying the
detritus amid which these remains were entombed, was not a desert
waste, a mere mass of rocks decomposing under the action of the
atmosphere, and worn away along the sea-level by the breakers; in
fact nothing but a storehouse for the production of the marine sedi-
ments of the time. We require a marine yegetation as a base for

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lix

the existence of the sea animal life of the period, and we may fairly
infer no lack of terrestrial vegetation, flourishing beneath the atmo-
sphere at the same time. What that vegetation may have been we
have yet to learn; but as the range of the Silurian deposits becomes
more known over the earth’s surface, in regions where they have
either never been covered by more modern deposits, or having been
so covered, are now bared by denudation,—and every day we learn
more and more of their distributionn—we may expect to obtain a
better insight into the kind of plants existing at that remote geo-
logical period.

During his late absence on the continent, our indefatigable col-
league, Sir Roderick Murchison, for many years one of the largest
contributors of memoirs to our Society on many important geological
subjects and districts, did not forget us, and we find him bringing
before us, under the head of “‘ Notes on the Geological Structure of
the Alps, Apennines, and Carpathians, more especially to indicate a
transition from Secondary to Tertiary types, and the existence of Eocene
deposits in Southern Europe,” the result of his own researches and
those of preceding labourers in the same regions ; thus endeavouring
to gather up the whole into one systematic view. This is a labour
which cannot fail to be properly appreciated by those who have
themselves studied the geological structure of the Alps, Apennines
and Carpathians, and are acquainted with the works and memoirs
written upon these mountains, from the researches of the justly ce-
lebrated De Saussure to the present time, and among which are in-
cluded the writings of Sir Roderick Murchison and Professor Sedg-
wick, published im our Transactions, and an account by Sir Roderick,
in 1829, of the sections observed at Asolo and Bassano.

Amid masses contorted and broken at different periods, accumula-
tions of sedimentary matter, effected under various conditions during
a long lapse of geological time, changes in the character of many de-
posits after they were formed, and huge portions of dislocated rocks
thrust up into the atmosphere, so high in some situations as to be
covered by perpetual snow and glaciers, and in others most difficult
of access, the determination of the state of the general area as re-
gards land and water, conditions for detrital accumulations, and the
distribution of animal and vegetable life at given and successive geo-
logical times, becomes no easy task. We have merely to crumple up
the present geological surface of Great Britain into a great north and
south range of mountains, accompanied by huge fractures, parts of
the general mass, sometimes altered in mineral characters, and here
and there forced up so high above the level of the sea as to become
covered by perpetual snow and ice, to feel how much the difficulty
would be increased of determining the varied relation of its parts
from that which we now experience. When we complicate this state
of things still more by previous movements, overlaps, differences in
the range of original deposits, alterations subsequently effected in
them, and by modifications in the physical conditions under which
animal and vegetable life has been placed, we can the better under-
stand many of those difficulties which have attended the examina-

Ix PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

tions of the Alps especially, and the length of time during which such
examinations have been continued with differences of opinion and
varied results.

After a notice of previous writers and a glance at the first removal
of masses of the Alps, by M. Brochant, from the so-called primary
to the transition series, and the still further removal of supposed very
ancient accumulations to the secondary series, including the creta-
ceous group, by Buckland, Brongniart, Von Buch, Elie de Beaumont
and others, and adverting to his labours with Professor Sedgwick on
the Gosau deposits, Sir Roderick Murchison notices the occurrence
of portions of Upper Silurian, Devonian and carboniferous rocks in
the eastern Alps, as determined by organic remains, giving an ac-
count of those seen by M. de Verneuil and himself, and of the re-
searches of others respecting the same rocks. Proceeding to the
westward, evidence of these rocks ceases, and it is inferred that this
may have arisen from the greater metamorphic action to which they
may have been exposed in that direction. While no traces of the
Permian series have been detected in the area treated of, the trias,
including the muschelkalk, noticed by Von Buch, Emmerich, Von
Hauer and other geologists, reposes on the palzeozoic accumulations
above mentioned in the South Tyrol and Salzburg Alps. These de-
posits are not traceable in the Western Alps, it being inferred that
they are not recognizable there from metamorphic action, extended
through the palzeozoic deposits to them im that direction. Special
mention is made of the trias of the South Tyrol, and of Recoaro and
adjacent tracts.

The Lower and Upper Alpine limestones are described under the
names of Liasso-Jurassic and Oxfordian Jurassic. The lower divi-
sion contains characteristic fossils. In the Venetian, Tyrolese and
Milanese Alps, there are tracts in which the Gryphea incurva, liassic
ammonites and small saurians have been found, and the same zone
has been traced by Studer, Ele de Beaumont, Sismonda and other
geologists in Switzerland and the eastern Alps. In following this
band of limestones, the light-coloured beds of the eastern Alps, often
dolomitic, become, for the most part, dark and even black on the
westward. From the mode of occurrence of the dolomite amid the
limestones of the eastern Alps, Sir Roderick agrees with Von Buch
in considering it a modification or metamorphism of the original de-
posit; and he also refers the great masses of gypsum to the same
action, carbonate of lime having been converted into the sulphate.
In illustration of this view he points to the effects now produced by
the thermal watcrs of Aix, in Savoy, the sulphuric acid contained in
the vapours from which converts the limestone of the fissure through
which they rise into sulphate of lime, and supposes that when the
Alps were uplifted, the more copious discharge of such waters and
gases would produce the changes required.

The beds containing belemnites alternating with coal-measure
plants, of which mention has been above made, were examined by
Sir Roderick, and are noticed im connection with the Lower Alpine
or Liasso-Jurassic limestones, the blackness of which in their course

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lxi

to the south-west is a point of some interest. He agrees so far with
M. Elie de Beaumont and M. Sismonda, respecting the section at Petit
Cceur, as to admit that the coal-measure plants and the belemnites
do really appear to lie in the same formation.

Proceeding in the ascending order, our colleague then notices the
Upper Alpine or Oxfordian Jurassic limestones, reminding us of the
labours of M. Merian and other Swiss geologists in the Jura, of M.
Studer in the Swiss Alps, and of M. Sismonda in the French and
Savoy Alps, adding a notice of those of M. de Zigno, of Padua, in
the Venetian Alps, and giving an account of a section from Pedescola,
in the valley of Attico, to the plateau of Setti Communi. This sec-
tion, examined during the Scientific Meeting at Venice, extends from
dolomite, of great thickness, and inferred to be of the liassie age,
upwards to the nummulitic limestone and grits of Gallio.

The cretaceous series is treated of under the head of lower and
upper Neocomian limestones, gault, upper greensand, and chalk,
and represented as reposing conformably upon the Jurassic or oolitic
series beneath. And here Sir Roderick remarks that, with a few
local exceptions, there appears to have been a continuous series of
marine deposits in the Alps, as in the Jura, with no great dissever-
ments to the completion of the cretaceous series, and, in most in-
stances, not until after the deposit of the still higher nummulitic
group. Looking at the Alpine cretaceous series generally, our col-
league points out, that its lowest member, named the Neocomian
limestone, is the thickest and most important of its formations.
Above this comes a deposit referred to the greensand or gault, in
which the well-known summit of the Montagne des Fis, with its fos-
sils, is included. This in its turn is surmounted by the equivalent
of the white chalk of Northern Europe, which Sir Roderick considers
he has discovered with certainty in a clear natural section exposed at
Thones in Savoy.

After numerous details and sections connected with the accumula-
tions above noticed, Sir Roderick Murchison proceeds to the chief
object of his communication, viz. that the flanks of the Alps exhibit
a true transition from the younger secondary into the older tertiary
strata, and that the older supracretaceous rocks occur abundantly,
and well-characterized, in the south of Europe, extending thence
eastward into Asia. To prove this view, numerous sections are de-
scribed in Savoy, Switzerland and Bavaria, through beds considered
equivalent to the lower greensand, the gault, and upper greensand of
the British series, to a limestone containing Inocerami and Anan-
chytes ovata, and referred to the white chalk. Conformable trans-
itions from this Inoceramus limestone into the nummulitic and shelly
rocks above are adduced, particularly near the Hohersentis in
Appenzell and near Sonthofen in Bavaria, where the beds, having
all the characters of the great supracretaceous groups, or flysch,
still contain a Gryphzea, not to be distinguished from the G. vesi-
eularis. Above this zone, fossils known to be contained in the true
cretaceous series are not found. The overlymg nummulitic and
shelly deposits are linked together by position and fossils, and on the

lx PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

north flank of the Alps, especially at Sonthofen and Kressenberg, as
well as on the high summit of the Diablerets and Dent du Midi, re-
present the lower tertiary of the Vicentine. The upper portion of
this group is the fysch of the Swiss, the Wiener Sandstein, and to a
great extent the Macigno of the Italians; and Sir Roderick remarks,
that the whole group of the nummulitie rocks and “flysch” is not,
as many geologists suppose, an upper portion of the cretaceous series,
but really represents the true eocene tertiary accumulations. Seeing
the conformable state of the various deposits noticed, and the appa-
rent continuation of physical causes which has permitted a kind of
passage, lithologically, of the one deposit into the other in succession,
our colleague maintains that under such conditions the limits of for-
mations can be alone defined by their imbedded organic remains. In
concluding this part of his communication, he refers to the aid he
has received during his Alpine researches from Prof. Studer, M.
Escher of Zurich, Prof. Brunner of Berne, and M. Zigno. Having
thus referred the nummulitic group to the lowest supracretaceous ac-
cumulations, Sir Roderick adverts to the marked interval in nearly
all parts of the Alps between the last-formed strata of this group and
the next overlying deposits, so generally admitted to be tertiary. He
then passes to the Molasse and Nagelflue of the northern Alps, citing
the labours of Prof. Studer, M. Escher and other geologists, and di-
vides the mass into lower deposits considered to have been formed in
fresh water, central accumulations of marine origin and of Sub-apen-
nine or Pliocene age, and an upper group, the great overlying portion
of Molasse and Nagelflue, of terrestrial and freshwater origm. Still
following up an ascending series of accumulations, we attain the well-
known lacustrine deposit of Cningen, remarkable for having en-
tombed in it only lost species of animals and plants, though formed
after marine pliocene beds, containing shells not distinguishable from
those of molluscs now living. And here Sir Roderick remarks that
the terms Miocene and Pliocene cannot be correlatively deduced from
submarine and freshwater accumulations, for if this be done in Swit-
zerland, miocene types of lost species overlie marine pliocene forms.
Our colleague then considers the cretaceous and nummulitic rocks
of the Carpathians, with reference to the different ages of the so-
called Carpathian sandstones, giving an account of an examination
of them by him, in 1843, in company with Professor Zeuchner, a
sketch of which only had previously appeared in his work on Russia
and the Ural Mountains. In the general succession of rocks between
the Tatra chain and the low country of the Vistula near Cracow, a
mass of nummulitic limestone reposing upon secondary rocks (among
which some, from their fossils, are referred to the Liasso-Jurassic
beds of the Alpine limestone, and others above them may represent
the upper Jurassic beds and even part of the cretaceous deposits,)
dips beneath shale and sandstone resembling the flysch of the Alps.
The fossils are noticed as such that no doubt can be entertained of
these beds being of the same age with the nummulitic rocks of the
Alps. Mention is made of sandstones with green grains and Neocomian
fossils having a wide range, a large portion of which have been termed

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lxiil

Carpathian sandstones. It is remarked that, in such districts, where
the cretaceous series presents an arenaceous and earthy character,
and the nummulitic rocks are absent, it is extremely difficult to draw
lines of separation between sandstones of secondary and tertiary age.
Sir Roderick considers that hence, under the term Carpathian sand-
stones, cretaceous and eocene deposits have been confounded, the
confusion not a little aided by the dislocated condition of the district.

We were next presented with a general view of the chief forma-
tions of the Apennines and Italy. In this Sir Roderick Murchison,
referring to the labours of General della Marmora in Sardinia as
showing the existence of Silurian rocks in that island, considers that
there is at present no evidence of older accumulations in Italy than
those found at La Spezia and in the adjoining district of the Massa
Carrara Mountains, or Apuan Alps as they have been termed. These
are referred to the age of the lower or Liasso-Jurassic division of the
Alpine limestones, and are noticed as covered by a limestone, which
from its fossils and frequent red colour is called ammonitico-rosso, and
considered to be equivalent to the Upper Alpme limestone or Ox-
fordian Jurassic series. Surmounting these deposits come the equi-
valents of the cretaceous series of our country, well-exhibited on
the flanks of the Venetian Alps in one direction and in the Nice di-
strict in another, and in their turn covered by the nummulitic accu-
mulations, observed by Sir Roderick twenty years since, to graduate
into the deposits beneath them im the sections presented near Asolo
and Bassano. He adverts to a recent description by M. Zigno of a
series of accumulations in the Kuganeans from the Upper or Ox-
fordian Alpine limestone, through the cretaceous group, including
the equivalent of the white chalk, to the nummulitic series, and re-
marks that in Liguria, Modena, Lucca and Tuscany, such evidence
of clear succession is absent, the rocks above the Oxfordian group in
those districts being singularly devoid of fossils, and the beds inter-
mediate between it and those of the miocene age assuming an arena-
ceous character, with the exception of certain flaggy limestones.
The nummulitic deposits are found at rare intervals, and chiefly
southward of Florence. Where they occur, Sir Roderick refers the
Macigno associated with or overlying them to eocene deposits, and
such rocks are stated to be undistinguishable from the Alpme flysch
and macigno. The thick Alberese limestones on which these deposits
rest, so well displayed in the Apennines between Bologna and Flo-
rence and in the northern part of the Tuscan Maremma, it is thought
may in part represent the chalk, the fucoids m these rocks, though
of the same species as those which overlie the nummulitic rocks of
the Alps, ranging from the lower chalk high up into the eocene de-
posits, and a hamite and one or two ammonites having been disco-
vered in these beds in Tuscany. Passing southwards into the Roman
States and Naples, the superposition of the nummulitic limestones,
with their associated fossils, to the hippuritic limestones, is seen in
the same succession as in the Alps and Carpathians.

The Superga section, near Turin, is noticed as highly instructive,
a coralline concretionary limestone forming its base, and being either

lxiv PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

at the upper limits of the eocene or at the bottom of the miocene
deposits. This is covered by a succession of conglomerates, marls
and sandstones, full of the miocene types of the Superga, passing
upwards into the blue Sub-apennine marls and yellow sands.
Throughout these deposits the per-centage of fossil species is of so
mixed a character, that MM. E. Sismonda and Bellardi, after careful
examination, are unable to draw a line between those termed miocene
and pliocene. The tertiary deposits near Bologna and the Tuscan
Maremma are noticed, the coal beds of the latter being referred to
an old miocene date, and the relations of these marine tertiary deposits
to the more modern terrestrial and freshwater travertines are traced.

The chief object of this memoir, as previously observed, is to
establish a true equiv alent of the eocene deposits in Southern EKu-
rope, and to show that the rocks so termed do not merely represent, as
suggested by M. Elie de Beaumont, the interval which has occurred in
Northern Europe between the upper part of the chalk, as there ex-
posed, and the commencement of the plastic clay series, but actually
constitute deposits effected at the same time with the eocene beds of
the Paris and London supracretaceous accumulations. Sir Roderick
Murchison particularly observes on the presence of species identical
with those of the Paris and London tertiaries in the nummulitic
rocks, and remarks that no characteristic fossil of the cretaceous
series has been continued into the nummulitic group, two or three
species of Gryphzea being alone common to the upper beds of the one
and lower deposits of the other. He examines the writings of the
geologists who have described the nummulitic accumulations of South-
ern Kurope, and infers that the facts noticed by him and them are
in harmony.

It would be impossible, in the necessary limits of an address of this
kind, to attempt any detailed observations upon the mass of infor-
mation brought forward by our colleague in this communication. In
all such investigations, tracing great deposits of mineral matter over
large areas, it becomes of importance duly to consider the physical
conditions which may have obtained at different times over the whole
or parts of it. This we obtain by careful study of the lithological
character of the deposits themselves. Among the most striking geo-
logical features of the wide area noticed, is the mass of calcareous ac-
cumulations, which have been effected from the date of the great
Alpine limestone to the modern terrestrial travertines of Italy inclu-
sive. No doubt much of this calcareous matter may have been in
parts used over and over again, portions only of different dates re-
maining to show us what we seek, both as to the physical conditions
under which the deposits of different geological times in certain areas
were effected, and the life of the time, so far as can be inferred from
the remains of it entombed in such deposits. Nevertheless, regard-
ing it as a mass, the amount of calcareous matter in the region noticed,
and in the extension of the same deposits in Northern Africa and
away into Asia, shows a certain continuance of physical conditions
fitted for its production, which requires to be taken into account
when we regard the subject as a whole. The variations of these

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixv

conditions in certain minor areas, while they remain more constant
in others, will, doubtless also, eventually give great insight into the
distribution of land and water at equal geological epochs, and all the
intermingling of ordinary detritus, gravels, sands and mud will have
to be well studied for their extent, and modification both as regards
surfaces overspread and differences in the kind and direction of
supply.

Waiting these more detailed investigations, and the modification
of views which may result from them, Sir Roderick Murchison has
taken marine life as his guide, and more particularly points to a vast
sheet of matter, including certain animal remains, as, to use the
happy term of Alexander von Humboldt, a geological horizon ; as-
suming that the animals, of which these are the remains, lived at the
same geological time, and therefore that the mineral masses in which
they have been entombed will bear classification in one group. We
have seen that in the case of the nummulitic rocks, he refers the de-
posits including these shells to the age of the lowest tertiary accumu-
lations, or the eocene rocks.

Whatever views may be entertained of the existence of centres
whence species have to be distributed during the lapse of time, and
the consequent changes that all our classifications of the deposits
upon one portion of the earth, such as Europe, may eventually
have to undergo, as regards fine divisions made in accumulations
from the absence or presence of certain species or their representa-
tives of the same time, when other regions of equal area have been
carefully examined, the gathering up of evidence in favour of the
distribution of similar life in the seas of equal geological time,
as has now been done with respect to the nummulitic rocks of
Southern Europe by Sir Roderick Murchison, is very important.
Under our present amount of information respecting the wide area
noticed, extending even to India, it gives a leading object for a guide ;
and whether some of the myriads of nummulites found in these beds
first existed or not at the time of the chalk in particular districts, is
unimportant as regards the progress of the imquiry. If they be
shown in given areas to be limited to certain periods, the facts are at
least good as respects the reasoning for those areas.

From the accidental circumstance of the tertiary rocks having been
made known to us by the labours of such men as Cuvier and Bron-
gniart, working around such a seat of science as Paris, a desire to
perpetuate very marked distinctions between the cretaceous and su-
pracretaceous accumulations has not unnaturally been experienced.
Those among us who are old enough, either to remember the actual
announcement of the labours of these distinguished men, or who en-
tered upon geological life sufficiently near that time to recollect the
feeling then existing among those who cultivated our science, will not
be surprised at the reluctance which has been so long experienced at
considering the accumulations of mud, sand, gravel, calcareous or
other matter of the one time as a mere sequence of those of the other,
and the breaks in this sequence in particular areas as no more than
other breaks in the general deposits of other geological times, even in

VOL. V.-——-PART I, e

Ixvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

the same areas. We are not to suppose that all the rivers of the world
suddenly ceased to transport detritus into lakes and seas; that the
breakers no longer wore away the coasts, or that animal and vegetable
life was entirely destroyed, because we find a break in the sequence
of accumulations in a particular portion of the earth’s surface. We
have now learned, by the progress of our science, to account for such
local breaks, and among other things, that dry land cannot fail to
show them, when such dry land, after submergence, is covered by
marine deposits, and is again upraised above the water. Hence all
evidence as to the passage of supracretaceous into cretaceous deposits,
such as that noticed by Sir Roderick Murchison in this paper, is im-
portant ; and the Society has reason to be satisfied that our colleague
has selected it as the channel through which to convey his extended
researches on the region noticed to the public.

Movements which Mineral Masses may have sustained subsequently
to their Accumulation.

Mr. Weston, availing himself of the means afforded by a railway
cutting (upon the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth line), poimts out
the facts he considers to be shown where the railway crosses the great
Ridgway fault, one formerly described in your Transactions by Dr.
Buckland and myself from appearances exhibited on the ground by
ordinary sections. It will be im your recollection that the great
movement which throws off the rocks on the north and south, thus
thrusting up the Wealden country of Kent and Sussex, and which
extends westward so as to form a marked anticlinal line to the
frontier of the greensand and chalk escarpments on the south of
Frome in Somersetshire, is accompanied by a more southern and par-
allel line of movement, crossing the Isle of Wight and extending into
Dorsetshire. It seems clear from the rocks disturbed, that this move-
ment took place after the Headon Hill tertiary deposits of the Isle of
Wight, since they have been included in it. Faults having a general
east and west character are seen on this line of movement, but as
faults having the same general direction are sufficiently common in
districts merging into this, and where flexures of the kind previ-
ously noticed are not to be found, it is not so clear that faults such
as those of the Ridgway are really contemporaneous with the arching
and bending of the beds by the side of, and through which they run.

It will also be in your recollection, that after the dry land of the
Wealden time became depressed beneath the level of the sea, the
marine deposits of the cretaceous series covered them over, and in
such a manner that the chalk and upper greensand extended over the
first-formed and lower part of the series, overlapping various older
beds im succession, even reaching as far as the coal-measures of Devon-
shire on the westward, and over the oolitic districts of Yorkshire on
the north. Probably also this overlap was far more extensive, though
denuding influences have so acted during the lapse of geological time,
that no certain marks remain to prove the.amount of area covered by
the cretaceous series in Great Britain. We are certain at all events

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixvii

that in Ireland conditions permitted the deposit of the cretaceous
rocks in that portion of the British area.

Ranging down from Somerset and Wilts into Dorsetshire, the
cretaceous rocks are seen overlapping various members of the oolitic
series, so that in the vicinity of the country noticed by Mr. Weston,
the great clay deposit known as the Oxford clay supports cretaceous
rocks. In a section given by Mr. Weston he shows a continuation of
the Hastings sands as reposing on the Purbeck beds, founding this
view on the organic remains discovered in the beds, and on their
general character ; and he also shows some tertiary accumulations
where they had not been previously noticed. The line of section
where the Ridgway fault traverses it exposes a clay, which from its
appearance and fossils Mr. Weston regards as a portion of the Oxford
clay beneath, forced up through the line of fracture, so as to occupy
a position between the greensand beneath the chalk and the beds,
supposed to be Hastings sands. In a district of this kind, where
one series is overlapping another, where there has been much move-
ment producing bending of the beds, and where denudation acting
unequally exposes the beds cut into under various aspects, much
care and circumspection are necessary ; and Mr. Weston, while he
gives his own views on the subject, wishes them to be recorded merely
as appearing to reconcile apparent difficulties.

In his paper on the salt-field of Cheshire and the adjoining di-
stricts Mr. Ormerod notices numerous movements of the beds and
faults. He infers that “ dislocations affecting the North Stafford-
shire coal-field, the chief Cheshire coal-field, and a considerable part
of Cheshire, centre in or near Shutlingstow.”’

With regard to the movements to which the coal district in question
has been subjected, we must take them in connection with the irregular
protrusion of the mountain or carboniferous limestone of Derbyshire,
the coal district of the same county, and the continuation of the
whole northerly into Yorkshire ; and by so doing we find,—though
minor squeezes have depressed or elevated areas of greater or less
dimensions, these minor portions taking a variety of forms,—that a
great uprise has taken place in a north and south direction for a con-
siderable distance, throwing off coal-fields to the right and left. Ag
we find dislocations in other parts of England, breaking through the
mountain limestone and coal-measures, some evidently after their
beds had been contorted and bent, anterior to the deposit of the new
red sandstone series, smce the latter repose quietly without break
upon faults, sometimes great, denudation having planed away the
broken surface, so that horizontal beds could be continuously de-
posited, while other dislocations have affected all the rocks, it be-
comes interesting to learn how far the Cheshire and Staffordshire
faults may be separated a8 regards geological time.

It will have been seen from the communication of Professor
Ramsay and Mr. Aveline, taken in connection with the memorandum
of Professor E. Forbes on the organic remains in part of the district
noticed by them, that there would appear to be evidence of coast
deposits on the previously disturbed bed of the Llandeilo flag and

Ixvili PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

more ancient rocks. From the mention made of the accumulations
emerging on the north-west, from beneath the trappean groups of
Snowdon and the more ancient beds of Anglesea, it will also have
been seen that there had not improbably been a still more ancient
movement of rocks in the North Welsh area. ‘Taking that area, we
would appear to have had many important movements of rocks in it.
First the old micaceous and chloritic slates of Anglesea, apparently
moved, (the evidence is not yet complete, though the probabilities
are considerable,) prior to the Bangor conglomerates and sandstones.
After which, whatever minor disturbances there may have been
during the period when igneous agency was so common, and the
trappean group was accumulated, no marked and great movement is
apparent until the date of the Bala beds. We then find the Caradoc
sandstone series reposing upon the disturbed and older beds. All
the deposits of the Wenlock and Ludlow accumulations continued
trauguily, making all allowance for mmor movements.

The Wenlock and Ludlow series then became included in the great
movement which took place anterior to the deposit of the old red
sandstone and mountain limestone. In Flintshire, Denbighshire and
Caernarvonshire, we see these rocks overlapping disturbed beds from
the Ludlow rocks to the Anglesea micaceous and chloritic slates in-
clusive. The region was again disturbed after the deposit of the coal-
measures, and the new red sandstone series was deposited upon the
uplifted, bent, or contorted beds, as the case might happen to be, of
all the first-formed rocks. 'The new red sandstone itself was not
destined to remain quiet, and taking in the adjoining district. of
Cheshire, we find it also bent and broken, anterior to the drift, in-
cluding large boulders, too often spread over the rocks beneath to be
pleasing to the geologist.

When we contemplate the many strange twists and complication of
fractures which must exist in the rocks of such an area, particularly
among the older accumulations, those consequently the longest ex-
posed to these various movements and breaks, there is enough to
point out how much caution is needed in our explanations of minor
portions of such an area, particularly when we reflect upon the com-
plicated arrangements produced by denudations at different times in
parts of the general mass, as at various periods it became elevated, so
that breaker action and atmospheric influence wrought out coasts
and all the modifications of dry land—mountainsg, hills, valleys and
plains ; or depressed in various ways beneath the sea, it became coated
with the detritus derived from portions of the still dry land.

While lately in this country, Professor Henry Rogers brought
before the Society a comparison of the structural features of the Ap-
palachians of the United States with those of the Alps and other
disturbed districts of Europe. He divided his communication into facts
in connexion with flexures and fractures of the rocks composing the
Appalachians, the Alps, the Jura, and the paleeozoic districts border-
ing the Rhine, and the manner in which he and his brother, Pro-
fessor W. B. Rogers, of Virginia, proposed to account for the pro-
duction of such flexures and fractures.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lxix

Upon careful study of the Appalachian zone, as the Professor terms
that region, one having a length of about 1300 miles and a mean
breadth of 150 miles (an area therefore of about 195,000 square miles),
he and Prof. W. B. Rogers found that it was marked by five great
belts. These, when crossed from S.E. to N.W., exhibited the greater
flexures in the first belt, or that on the S.K. of the Blue Ridge or
Green Mountain Chain and within this chain, old semi-crystalline
schists and the oldest paleeozoic rocks were doubled into enormous,
closely-compressed, alternate folds, dipping almost exclusively to the
S.E. at angles varying from 45° to 70°. In the third belt, the oblique
flexures of the older paleeozoic rocks are less compressed, the north-
western side of each anticlinal curve approaching near to verticality.
In the fourth belt, that of the central Appalachians of Pennsylvania,
Virginia and Tennessee, the convex and concave flexures progressively
expand, the steepness of the N.W. side of each anticlinal gradually
diminishing. In the fifth belt, that of the bituminous coal region of
the Alleghany and Cumberland mountains, the curves dilate and sub-
side into broad symmetrical undulations with very gentle dips. We
thus have five belts ; the greatest flexures and folds in that on the S.E.,
the least in that on the N.W., the prevailing dip towards the S.E.
Prof. Rogers then showed that the folds and undulations of the strata
lie in groups, the several axes being very nearly parallel and similar in
their style of flexure, many of the larger anticlinals having a length
of 80 or 100 miles. With regard to the distances of the contiguous
great folds, they are stated to be, in the south-eastern belt, less than
one mile; in the central belt between one and two miles; and in the
north-western belt the flexures have an amplitude of from five to ten
miles. With regard to dislocations of the beds, two systems are
noticed—one of short fractures, nearly perpendicular to the strike of
the anticlinals; the other ranging with them, and often of consider-
able amount. The longitudinal dislocations, some in Virginia having
a length exceeding 100 miles, are considered as broken flexures, the
fracture almost invariably occurring on the north-western or inverted
sides of the anticlinals, and having a moderately steep south-eastern
dip. Some of these great fractures constitute faults of not less than
8000 feet.

Upon looking at all the facts adduced by the Professors Rogers,
who have thus so well worked out the flexures and fractures of the
rocks composing this part of the United States, we cannot but be
struck with the evidence of an exertion of force along a line no less
than 1300 miles in length, folding the component beds of rocks in such
a manner as to show that the effects of that force gradually diminished
towards a parallel line some 150 or 200 miles distant on the N.W.
from the first line. We have thus some 200,000 square miles of
rocks, the thickness of which we do not know, though from faults
being ascertained of as much as 8000 feet, we may at least give them
a mile and a half in depth, ridged and furrowed in great parallel bands,
with minor flexures dependent on the same great exertion of force.
The effects produced, for the careful examination and full description
of which we are so much indebted to the Professors Rogers, are also

Ixx PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

of a kind leading us to infer that the resistances to the force, let it
have been what it might, were somewhat uniform, so that the great
flexures, however far they were removed from that force, preserved
an uniformity of character during their range.

The hypothesis advanced by the Professors Rogers to explain the
facts observed is, as you have been some time aware, that the solid
crust of the earth, resting on liquid matter, having been exposed to
excessive tension, was ruptured along great lines; that the sudden
relief of this tension produced in the liquid mass beneath two receding
sets of huge waves of translation, one on each side of the line of frac-
tured crust, which threw the crust ito corresponding undulations,
and at the same time pressed and partially carried forward the two
pulsating zones, in the direction of the advancing waves. The crust
beneath each concave bend is supposed to have cracked and opened
downwards, during this wave-like motion, so that molten matter be-
neath rushed in, filled the rents thus formed, partially congealing in
wedge-shaped masses, which assisted, in combination with other pres-
sures, in preventing the mass from again flattening out, and thus the
temporary flexures were braced into permanent arches.

In the first stage of their formation the flexures are supposed to
have been broad and gently curved; even then, however, the arches
steeper on the forward sides of the waves. <A succession of similar
waves of translation, starting from the same or parallel lines of rup-
ture, are considered to have acted on the flexures already formed, con-
tracting their horizontal width, increasing their curvature, and aug-
menting the difference in the anticlinal dips, even to the inversion of
the forward side, with the production of parallel folding. The minor
folds and contortions are referred to the crumpling of the softer beds
on the bends of the principal flexures.

With respect to this view you will observe, that it is to waves of
translation frequently repeated, and starting from the same or parallel
lines of rupture, that the final highly crumpled and contorted state of
the parallel bands is attributed ; and hence that the tension of the
rocks and their rupture have also to be repeated, so as to produce
these waves. If we should admit, which we confess we should have
great difficulty in doing, that the external crust would conform, in the
manner supposed, to the undulation of the waves produced in the fluid
mass beneath by the rending of this crust in long lines, in consequence
of tension, we have to reproduce similar conditions to cause similar
effects; that is, to obtain each set of pulsations we must have the
needful tension and fracture. We have thus to infer that the rent,
which so long as it existed would give way before any repetition of
the force that caused the first tension, was cemented up in such a
manner as again to permit tension of a kind and order similar to the
first, and soon. It is supposed that at every pulsation the beds were
crumpled up and driven aside from the original rent, or others parallel
to it, so that unless the superficial area of that part of the earth were
diminishing, each impulse would drive the once continuous beds further
from each other, the intervening space gradually increasing, and re-
quiring to be filled up-by the liquid matter from beneath to an altitude

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixxi

corresponding with that at which it could stand relatively to the sphe-
roidal mass of which it is considered to have formed the upper part.

The amount of separation between the original beds, supposing no
contraction in that part of the earth’s surface, would correspond with
the difference which the folding and crumpling of the beds would
make in the length of the section across them prior and subsequent
to their contortion. If we assume a fracture from tension along a
line of 1300 miles, and the section across the beds so broken through
to be one-sixth less now than prior to their movement, and 150 miles
their present measurement, after contortion, on both sides, we should
have an opening of sixty miles between the edges of the first fracture,
if there be no evidence of fractures parallel to the first. Now in the
case of the Appalachian region the facts would appear to show that
the force had always been exerted in the S8.E. for at least the mean
breadth of 150 miles, and hence the tension-fractures,—considering
them to have been repeated, and thus to have produced waves of
translation more and more bending up the beds, so as even to throw
them over with folds dipping towards the force employed,—would
have to be made in the mass of matter occupying the space between
the edges of the original great rent. We should thus have to con-
sider it as from time to time consolidated in such a manner as to offer
resistance and be fractured by tension in the manner required.

After carefully considering the facts brought forward by the Pro-
fessors Rogers, for which the best thanks of geologists are due to
them, it appears to us that lateral pressure, not from the mere injec-
tion of some liquid and molten matter, which, as Professor Rogers
observes, could scarcely produce the effects observed, when such molten
matter is considered to form a portion of a general mass beneath, but
from the pressure of masses of the crust of the earth against other
masses along great lines of fracture on the surface, has been the cause
of these flexures. Under any hypothesis, the sliding of a portion of
the earth’s crust would appear to be essential, as also a flexibility of
the component beds sufficient to admit of folding and contortion.
The greater the power for both, the less the necessity for the rise of
the squeezed mass into mountains. Under the hypothesis of lateral
pressure, considering that to have been exerted with an uniform in-
tensity for 1300 or more miles, and the thickness and resistance of
the crust sufficiently uniform also, we do not perceive anything to
prevent the general mass from sliding over a fluid body beneath,
and being crumpled and folded as in the Appalachian region.

The visit of our colleague Professor Henry Rogers to Europe was
for the more especial purpose of comparing other contorted, ridged
and furrowed regions with that which had afforded to the labours ot
himself and brother those facts. Examining the structure of the
Devonian formation on the Rhine, he considers that the entire re-
gion of the Devonian and carboniferous rocks exhibits the same laws
of flexure and plication observable in the Appalachians, and he points
to a section from S.E. to N.W., either through the Taunus to West-
phalia ; or by the Rhine from Bingen to Remagen, or from the Hunds-
ruck to the coal region of Liege, as showing an almost universal

Ixxil PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

south-eastern dip, resulting from the close oblique folds with steep or
inverted dips to the N.W. of each large anticlinal. He further re-
marks, that on approaching the northern side of the district the flex-
ures become progressively more open, and that the inequality in the
dip of the sides of the anticlinal diminishes, so that in this case also
the force would have been applied on the 8.E.

In the Jura Professor Rogers found the anticlinals to have one side
of the arch more incurved than the other, but not inverted ; and some
of them snapt near the point of most abrupt curvature. It is stated,
that while the ridges are higher next the great plain of Switzerland,
all the individual flexures are steepest towards the Alps. The ave-
rage dip of the N.W. sides of the Jura anticlinals scarcely amounts to
40°, while on the S.W. it exceeds 70°. A great fault is supposed to
occur on the southern side of the Jura, arresting the expansion and
subsidence of the flexures in that direction.

It is stated that in the Alps the axis-planes dip inwards from both
flanks towards the central portion, so that the masses are folded in
opposite directions ; the plications of the Bernese Oberland dipping
south,those of the chain of the St. Gothard and the Simplon towards
the north. In these mountains therefore the exertion of force would
be from the great central axis outwards towards the flanks on the
N.W. and 8.E.

Those familiar with the Alps must be well-aware of the great dis-
locations and folds exhibited, and of the whole presenting a crushed
appearance, such as we might expect from the heavy pressure of the
masses composing them against each other on a line corresponding
with that of the main range. If the various dislocated parts were
reunited, and the folds flattened out, and the component beds restored
to the condition in which they were formed, the area now occupied by
the region of the Alps would have to be expanded to various distances
parallel to the main range,—the flanks pressed out into Italy on the
one hand, and towards the countries on the N.W. and W. on the
other. In looking at the flexures and dislocations in the Alps we
have to regard the mass of them, and in doing so we seem scarcely
to arrive at the conclusion that the flanks have been driven outwards
by impulses acting upon a fluid mass beneath in consequence of ten-
sion along the central axis ; but rather that the component beds were
squeezed from both sides up against a main central line, extending
along the main range of these mountains, so that the effects produced
upon the partly flexible and partly more unyielding rocks would
throw them into flexures and break them in directions, as if from a
force acting from the central portions outwards. The contorted,
broken and jammed masses would struggle to expand themselves, and
to avoid being squeezed and piled up into the atmosphere, would act
with all the power due to their gravity in forcing the rocks which
could yield into flexures, breaking others more rigid, and even the
flexures themselves when too sharp for the cohesion of the beds, so
that towards the central axis the anticlinals would be sharper and

more folded, with inversions, and become less so towards the extreme
flanks.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixxill

However divided opinions may be as to the hypothesis advanced
by the Professors Rogers, in explanation of the order of the flexures
and dislocations observed by them in the Appalachian region, and
by Professor Henry Rogers on the Rhine, in the Jura and in the
‘Alps, they can scarcely differ as to the importance of the observations
themselves. By their multiplication we should eventually obtain a vast
body of evidence as to the directions whence the forces contorting
and crumpling beds of rock have been derived, and we have to recol-
lect that many of the effects of pressure on the earth’s surface, whence
we may conclude that many elevated regions have resulted, have since,
by denuding action, been more or less planed down ; so that cubic miles
of the materials, in all probability once piled up in ridges and masses,
have been removed and used again as the component parts of more
recent deposits, often again to be partially removed and employed
anew for a similar purpose. Sections, therefore, carefully executed,
and upon a true scale, alike for height and distance, become as valu-
able in a contorted district, though not marked by any great range
of mountains, as amid the latter, where there are more direct evidences
of the piling up of mineral matter above ordinary levels from the
causes producing contortion and fracture of the component rocks.

In his memoir “on the Geological Structure of the Alps, Apen-
nines and Carpathians,” Sir Roderick Murchison presents us with a
notice of the ancient changes of surface in the Alps, in which he
points out the contortion and fracture of the deposits, the mode of
occurrence of which he has previously described. He observes that,
when we regard any one region of the Alps, whatever may be the
major axis of the crystalline mass in its centre (including under the
terms crystalline mass, gneiss, mica slate, marbles, &c., as well as
granite), that such is also the prevailing direction of the sedimentary
deposits on either side. Sir Roderick illustrates this in the eastern
Alps by referring to the various accumulations, up to the tertiary
deposits inclusive, which surround two ellipsoidal masses of granite,
having a range from E.N.E. to W.S.W. Minor and parallel ellip-
soids of crystalline rocks are noticed in the Venetian Alps, and the
same range is shown to occur for the crystallme rocks of the central
part of the Tyrol, the chief part of the Lombardy Alps, the nuclei
of the Swiss Alps, and for the associated sedimentary deposits. The
change of direction to one more N. and S., westward of Berne, is no-
ticed, and it is inferred that in the Maritime Alps the uplifted masses
trend round so as to become confluent with the Apennines.

Our colleague considers it clear that in parts of the Alps there has
been a continuous series of submarine deposits from the Jurassic rocks
to the flysch inclusive which have been thrown into various folds, so
that sometimes great inversions are produced, the various deposits
having had no more consolidation than many accumulations even of
old date now found in Russia, and hence that this folding took place
after the deposit of certain supracretaceous rocks. Details of good
examples are given, and the kind of foldig above-mentioned as ob-
served by Professor Rogers is stated to be observable, instances being
adduced in illustration. A great fault is noticed at the Righi, bring-

Ixxiv PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

ing a younger portion of the molasse and nagelflue, with an inverted.
dip, against the lower cretaceous rocks, and its range is indicated.
Sir Roderick refers to the labours of M. Studer, which will show all
the modifications arising from the folding of the various contorted
beds round the ellipsoids of crystalline rocks, modifications which re-
quire to be understood when the general strike of the mass is under
consideration. He gives a detailed account of the great inversion of
the masses in the Canton Glarus, by which beds of supracretaceous
age are brought beneath a covering of limestone containmg Ammo-
nites, in its turn surmounted by tale slate.

Our colleague calls attention to the necessity of most careful exa-
mination of the contortions and fractures (many of which he mentions)
before we proceed to account for the forces and the direction to which
such contortions and fractures may be due. A most needful caution,
and one which cannot be too much borne in mind in such regions as
the Alps. He adverts to the effects produced by the partial disloca-
tions and overlapping of deposits, so that the sequence is disturbed
in one minor region and not in another, whence the independence of
certain accumulations may be too hastily inferred, remarking that the
molasse and nagelflue present the finest example of true indepen-
dence of deposits in Switzerland, both lithologically and zoologically.
Finally Sir Roderick observes that he does not doubt “that great
mutations of outline have taken place at different periods, not only
in and along the same chain of mountains in lines parallel to each
other, but even at different periods upon the very same line.”

Changes and Modifications which Mineral Masses may have suffered
since in the Accumulation, either before or after any Movements
which they may have sustained.

Mr. Sharpe, in a second communication on the subject of slaty
cleavage, infers that the facts observed in connexion with this structure
in the mountain district of Westmoreland and Cumberland show it
to be due to causes solely mechanical, thus confirming his views
founded on the examination of slaty cleavage in North Wales, Devon-
shire and Cornwall, and previously brought before this Society *.

Our coileague passes in review various facts, under the heads of
(1) compression of slate rocks in a direction perpendicular to the
planes of cleavage ; (2) two planes of cleavage im slate ; (3) slate-pencil
rock; (4) cleavage not connected with crystallization; (5) irregu-
larities in the direction of cleavage planes; (6) arrangement of the
cleavage planes in the Cumbrian mountains, and their relation to the
position of the beds; (7) northern area of elevation; (8) southern
area of elevation; and (9) conclusions, which are as follows :—

“The direction of the cleavage planes is in direct relation to the
movements of elevation of the strata, bemg everywhere at right
angles to the direction of the elevating force; and when the beds
have been raised with regularity over a single axis, the cleavage
planes appear to be portions of curves of which the width of the area
of elevation is the diameter. In slaty rocks there has been a con-

* Quarterly Geological Journal, vol. iii, p. 74.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixxv

siderable compression of the mass of rock between the planes of
cleavage ; that is, in the direction corresponding to that of the eleva-
ting force: this compression being shown by the distortion of the in-
cluded organic remains and the flattening of the component portions
of the rock, and bearing a proportion to the degree in which the
cleavage is developed. ‘The compression of the mass in a direction
perpendicular to the cleavage has been partially compensated by its
expansion along the dip of the cleavage, in which direction only its
expansion was permitted as the elevation of the beds enlarged the area
occupied by them. The difference between the amount of compression
in one direction and expansion in another, is accounted for in the
greater density of the rock after compression. No connexion has
been detected between cleavage and crystallization beyond a tendency
of plates of talc and mica to arrange themselves along the planes of
cleavage ; but as on these planes there would be the least resistance
to their intrusion or formation, this may have been a subsequent ope-
ration, and should not alter our opinion of the cause of the cleavage.”

You will necessarily refer to the communication itself for the facts
considered to justify these views, and take them in connexion with
the former memoir on the same subject by Mr. Sharpe. The frag-
ments found in certain brecciated beds of Patterdale, Langdale, and
other places, are inferred to have been flattened by the pressure con-
sequent on the elevation of the strata, and to have been thus squeezed
into planes parallel to those of the cleavage, therefore by the same
force which lengthened organic remains in the cleavage planes of cer-
tain fossiliferous rocks. Though difficult otherwise to observe, it is
stated that by means of a lens the constituent particles of good roof-
ing slates are found to be “ flattest between the cleavage planes and
longest along the dip of the cleavage.”” The double cleavage, pro-
ducing the prismatic solids worked for slate-pencils near Shap, is
inferred to have resulted from a second compression.

In the address for last year attention was called to a memoir by
Mr. Hopkins on the internal pressure to which rock masses may
have been subjected, and its possible influence on the production of
laminated structure, a memoir to which we would again request your
attention with respect to the arrangement of the component parts of
strata consequent on their pressure, bending, and contortion.

There can be little doubt that it is highly needful, when we regard
a mass of rocks, divided by cleavage planes, thoroughly to weigh the
effects that may be due to mechanical pressure alone. When there-
fore we find beds, so cleaved, to have been removed from horizon-
tality, or that approach to it which we infer the original mud, silt,
sands, or gravels to have taken from deposit, we have in the first place
to inquire what would be the effect of the amount of elevation, bend-
ing, or contortion observed, regarding the mass of rocks on the large
scale. In so doing we have carefully to examine the rocks them-
selves, to see if we can learn, from the structure of the component
beds, the probable cohesion of the parts of the various strata when
the elevation, bending and contortion were effected. More can often
be seen for this purpose than might at first sight appear probable.

Ixxvl PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

We have also to regard the varied resistances which beds of dissimilar
cohesion and composition would offer to the bending or contorting
force, the slipping of beds on each other (a very common circum-
stance in some contorted countries), and, in certain regions, the com-
plication arising from beds moved more than once and in different
directions.

Whatever, therefore, our views may be as to the cause of cleavage
planes, the effects which can be produced by mechanical action alone
demand our attention; and hence the Society stands much indebted
to Mr. Sharpe for bringing this subject so pointedly before it. The
hypothesis he supports Mr. Sharpe considers sufficient to account for
the facts he has noticed, and those who were present here when
the discussion upon this communication took place, must have fully
appreciated the desire of our colleague to arrive at the truth, regard-
less of his own hypothesis or that of any one else, so that the facts
be explained.

We had occasion in the address of last year, while alluding to the
memoir of Mr. Hopkins, before noticed, to express our participation
in the view that cleavage was due to the action of a force by which
the component particles of the rock were arranged in a manner
analogous to crystallization, pomting to the discoveries of Faraday
and others respecting the properties of matter as affording grounds
for such a view. At the same time we fully admit, with Mr. Sharpe,
the importance of ascertamimg the laminating effects which may be
simply due to mechanical pressure, and the necessity of not attributing
to one cause the effects which may really be due to another.

It may be fairly asked, if the casts of fossils are found elongated
in the planes of cleavage, why not included fragments of rocks also,
supposing a motion of their component particles, from some efficient
cause? In the first place it would be desirable to ascertain, though
the fragments may be in the planes of the cleavage, if they may not
have been deposited in the planes consequent on the original drift of
detritus, these fragments included, along the bottom of water, so that
they were accumulated in planes sloping from the upper surface of
the bed to its base, in the manner commonly known as ‘ false bedding.’
If the angle of the plane of cleavage (to which such fragments are
parallel) be too great for this view, then we have to regard the
lengthening of the apparent fragments, and how far they may have
really been hard when acted upon; and in doing so we have to con-
sider, if the fragments be those of some hardened rock or rocks, the
effects that would follow from the pressure of bodies of unequal
resistance in the bed of which they constituted the parts, as for ex-
ample clay beds holding fragments of previously consolidated slates,
or pebbles of sandstone or hard trappean rocks. Mr. Sharpe has
called attention to the shape of the component particles of fine roof-
ing-slates, and the probability of their having been lengthened in the
lines of cleavage ; a very important fact, whatever our views of the
kind of force employed.

It would be out of place further to dwell on this subject, one of
great geological interest, more particularly when combined with the

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixxvil

divisional planes termed joints. Examples of rocks cut by two
cleavage planes and two planes of joints, besides the planes of the
original bedding, are occasionally seen, so that the most complicated
appearances are produced, particularly when the cleavage is neither
parallel nor at right angles to the planes of deposit. Cleav age may be
sometimes seen to have produced ridges of hills, during denudation, in
a direction different from the strike of their beds, even diagonally to
that strike, as, for example, the range in Ireland, known from one of
the hills as the Chair of Kildare. We there see a variety of sub-
stances, slates, sandstones and trappean rocks, even a hard and beau-
tiful porphyry among the rest, all cut by a general line of cleavage,
ranging diagonally to the strike of the beds. Again, we, in some
regions, find beds contorted in all directions, as well horizontally as
vertically, cut by some general line of cleavage, one common to some
great district, and of which these contortions constitute only a minor
portion.

To bring the subject within grasp, great districts have to be care-
fully worked out for their cleavage planes, not neglecting any of their
modifications. The conditions of the rocks themselves, their varied
compositions, flexures, and probable state as regards cohesion at the
time of one or more compressions from the exertion of mechanical
force, have to be carefully weighed. Neither should those divisional
planes, the joints, be neglected, cutting, as they often do, through a
variety of rocks, and yet no trace of the least shift of their sides
observable. We are indebted to Professor Sedgwick for general views
as to the direction of cleavage in parts of our island, and Mr. Sharpe
has brought the movement of the particles of rocks m planes of
cleavage, also noticed by Professor John Phillips, prominently be-
fore you, and at the same time has directed your attention to the
general character of cleavage planes in certain extended districts.
Let us hope that those who have taken part in this important inves-
tigation, whatever their views of the cause of cleavage may be, will
continue their labours in this field, and that we may have the results
communicated to this Society for that honest discussion which usually
follows the reading of papers in this room.

In his communication on the comparison of the structural features
of the Appalachians with those of certain disturbed regions in Europe,
Professor Henry Rogers considers cleavage, and points out that the
alterations of internal structure and texture of the rocks im the Appa-
lachian region prevail much further to the north-west than the limits
of the igneous rocks. These alterations are noticed as an induration
of all the rocks, the crystallization of the limestones, the debitumeni-
zation of the coals, and an extensive cleavage of the argillaceous
masses. The planes of cleavage are remarked as dipping almost in-
variably with the closely-folded beds towards the south-east, and it is
stated that the cleavage is approximately parallel to the axes-planes,
a position inferred to be im accordance with a law applicable to all
plicated districts. According to the Professor, the cleavage dip of the
Alps is in consequence directed inwards from both sides along the
great axes-planes, so that the arrangement of the plications and the

Ixxvill PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

cleavage dips produces the fan-shaped stratification noticed in that
range of mountains. His explanation of the cause of cleavage is that
every plicated mass of matter, after flexure, consisted of hotter and
colder planes, so that an agency was exerted analogous to that of a
thermo-electric pile, inducing in the surrounding unsolidified materials
the special and symmetrical polarities of the particles, which have
been supposed the proximate cause of cleavage.

In his paper on the Silurian rocks near Oporto Mr. Sharpe men-
tions that the cleavage and foliation of the gneiss, mica schists and
Silurian accumulations of that district would appear to form an irre-
gular arch over the Oporto granite, of which the diameter, if it could
be fully seen, would be about twenty-five miles. 'The perpendicular
cleavage observed about two miles east of Vallongo, in the middle of
clay slates, forms its limit in that direction, and the commencement
of another arch, extending to the N.E., and im which the igneous rocks
to the southward of Baltar would occur. The strike of the cleavage
would appear to be N.W. and S.E.

In the address of last year we had occasion to call your attention
to the case adduced by Mr. Charlesworth of the preservation of the
soft parts of a Trigonia by means of silica, and to remind you of the
observations of Dr. Mantell respecting the preservation of the re-
mains of the soft parts of molluscs by the same substance. During
the past year Mr. Bowerbank brought before us a paper on a sili-
ceous zoophyte, Alcyonites parasiticum. Ue describes a small agate,
the locality of which is not known, as containing a body which ap-
pears to have been of a fleshy texture and semitransparent, like that
of Aleyonidium gelatinosum of our coasts, encrusting the fibres of
a species of Verongia, the tubular fibres of the sponge beimg in
many places beautifully preserved. The surface of the polypidom is
stated to present a strongly mammillated or tuberculated appearance,
which Mr. Bowerbank thinks may possibly have resulted from the
exhaustion of the animal, anterior to death, having prevented its
complete withdrawal within the polypidom. Our colleague then
refers to the rapid deposit of silica which could thus preserve animal
tissue before it was decomposed, and considers that after the first
quick deposit of the siliceous matter, the fillmg up of the interstices
of the tissue proceeded more slowly. Mr. Bowerbank afterwards
discusses the mode in which silica has been deposited. Having ex-
amined microscopically siliceous deposits from the Geysers, brought
to this country by Mr. Babingdon, he does not find the parts arranged
in a fibrous crystallme manner as in chalcedony or agates, but more
like a mass of melted glass, not having had the conditions for crystal-
lization afforded. In the fossil noticed he also found no appearance
of crystallized arrangement of the silica, and concludes, from what
he has observed during the crystallization of certain salts beneath
the microscope, that even in the case of chalcedony the crystallization
of silica may be achieved in much less time than is commonly
imagined. '

Respecting the production of artificial quartz and siliceous coatings,
Mr, Bowerbank quotes a communication of Mr. Warren de la Rue,

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixxix

in which that gentleman, after adverting to fluoride of silicon being
decomposed by contact with water, part of the silica being deposited
as a jelly, and silicated hydrofluoric acid produced, and to the solu-
bility of the deposited silica in water, remarks that he had always
observed that the separated silicated hydrofluoric acid contained un-
combined silica, deposited after the lapse of some months in minute
crystals of quartz. Upon microscopically examining these siliceous
bodies, Mr. Bowerbank found not only crystals of quartz, but also
chalcedonic deposits in the form of filmy plates, composed of two
and even three layers of characteristic acicular crystals.

Our colleague then proceeds to inquire whence the abundance of
silica was obtained. which we observe amid deposits of various geolo-
gical dates. After adverting to the action of high pressure and tem-
perature in aiding the solution of silica, Mr, Bowerbank is disposed
to think that the supply of this substance to fossils has been more
from the waters of the ocean than has been supposed, being there
greatly diffused. He adduces the infusoria, abounding in all parts
of the seas of the world, as proving this diffusion, and remarks on the
amount of soluble silicates borne into the ocean from the decomposi-
tion of felspathic minerals, and observes on the appropriation of silica
by animals and by plants. He also adverts to the possibility of
animal and vegetable matter exercising an attractive influence on
silica.

With respect to the dissemination of silica by means of solution in
the crust of the earth, we have sufficient evidence that it has been
most abundant and extensive. Not only does it occur as the chief
cementing substance uniting the grains of so many sandstones, but it
is also found disseminated in clays and in a variety of other rocks,
even certain limestones, far more than, without minute investigation,
might be supposed. When previously mentioning the labours of
Berzelius, we had occasion to notice the abundance of silica among
the various mineral masses known to us. Silica exists in large quan-
tities in the igneous rocks (indeed the mass of them is formed of little
else than various silicates), and from these rocks the detrital deposits
have been chiefly formed*.

It would be scarcely necessary to remind you, that among other
sources, the decomposition of that abundant mineral family, the fel-
spars, readily affords the means of throwing silica into conditions for
solution. Nor need we advert to the facilities afforded by solutions
for the transport of silica from one situation to another by geological
means, nor of the ease with which it would pass through the pores
of rocks, even of many supposed to be very compact. We may, how-
ever, recall your attention to the experiments of Sir James Hall, who
many years since (twenty-four) showed that by mingling common
salt (chloride of sodium) with graims of sand and exposing the mix-
ture to sufficient heat, even beneath water, that consolidation was

* Taking a general view of the relative abundance of the metallic bases of the
earths and alkalies, they would stand, as we had occasion formerly to notice
(‘ Researches in Theoretical Geology,’ 1834, p. 24), as follows:—l1. Silicium,
2. Aluminium, 3, Potassium, 4, Sodium, 5. Magnesium, and 6, Calcium,

Ixxx PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

effected, —in fact, that a potter’s glaze, as Sir James pointed out, was
made, or in other words, that a silicate of soda was produced which
cemented the grains of sand, forming a sandstone. If we follow out
this view, and bear in mind chat every detrital deposit in the sea,—
mud, silt and sand,—is well saturated with sea water, and conse-
quently has much chloride of sodium disseminated amid silicates and
silica, often in a minute state of division, we shall see that if suffi-
cient heat be applied to such detrital sheets of matter so saturated,

we have the conditions for the formation of the silicate of soda. 'The
needful amount of heat may either be applied by the intrusion of a
mass of molten rock, such as granite, or by sinking the mass of
matter to great depths, and beneath coverings of more recent accu-
mulations.

No doubt, when we regard the subject in this light, there are very
many other things to be considered than the mere application of
heat, and the presence of silica and chloride of sodium. Many of the
complications which would arise will readily suggest themselves to
you. We merely desire to call your attention to the production by
such means of silicate of soda, among other changes and modifications.
Certain of the silicates of soda which might be so formed may be
soluble, so that during the circulation of moisture amid the fissures,
joints, cleavages, beds and pores of rocks, they may be removed, while
others may not be so, under the poeta) but remain cementing the
portions of detrital matter together, turning parts and even whole
sheets of friable deposits into hard rocks.

We are far from supposing that silica may not be, and is not ob-
tained in solution in various other ways, and be thus transported
from one place to another. Other means are sufficiently obvious ; but
it seemed not undesirable to recall your attention to the experiments
of one, who laboured so earnestly in the promotion of our science, at a
time when experimental investigations were less appreciated than
many an unsupported and often wild assumption. It may scarcely
be necessary to remind you, that when such a solution as we have
noticed met with carbonic acid it would be decomposed, and the silica
set free, to be borne onwards with the moisture or water, and de-
posited, according to conditions. You are fully aware of the decom-
position of the silicates of soda or potass of the felspar family by
means of carbonic acid, even that in the atmosphere, and the conse-
quent state of the silica under such circumstances.

Although springs show us many solutions which have been effected
by means of water traversing rocks, especially when percolating
through mineral masses elevated above the level of the sea, thus
washing out many a substance from them which became disseminated
amid their constituent parts when accumulated beneath the sea, or
produced by subsequent conditions,—chloride of sodium very com-
monly, *—they do not always give us the conditions of the substances

* This common presence of chloride of sodium is a very interesting circum-
stance. When submarine-formed deposits, moistened with a solution of it, are
elevated into the atmosphere, it becomes by degrees washed out of them, so that
the longer they have been exposed during the lapse of geological time to this

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixxxl

in the interior of the mineral masses themselves. An illustrative
example of this fact is to be found in the chalk beneath the Lon-
don clay, on which, with its covering of gravel, we are now assem-
bled. The springs from the chaik, where it crops out to the north,
west, and south of us, show no want of the bicarbonate of lime in
solution ; it is sufficiently abundant; but in the water of the wells
which have been sunk in London through the clay into the chalk
this substance is scarce, and has even been found absent. In the
well.at Trafalgar Square out of 68°24 grains of solid matter in an
imperial gallon, 3°255 only were carbonate of lime, while there were
18 grains of carbonate of soda; and, as illustrating the dissemination
of chloride of sodium, 20 grains of that substance. In the deep well
at Camden Town, also in the chalk, out of 44 grains of solid matter
in an imperial gallon, 17°6 were composed of carbonate of soda, 11°1
of chloride of sodium, and no trace of carbonate of lime was de-
tected*.

To explain these interesting circumstances Dr. Lyon Playfair has
suggested to me that the first effect arising from water containing
carbonic acid, and filtermg through chalk m which there was silicate
of potash or soda, would be to dissolve the carbonate of lime, so that
if soon thrown out as spring-water it would contain the bicarbonate
of lime in solution. When however this water percolated through
a very extended bed of chalk (containing an alkaline silicate as the
chalk usually does), the free carbonic acid in the water would seize
the alkali and form a carbonate, while the carbonate of lime deprived
of its solvent would fall down. Hence it is, he concludes, that the
deep well water of London obtained from the chalk beneath the Lon-
don clay is comparatively soft, containing only a few grains of bicar-
bonate of lime, and even sometimes none at all, while carbonate of
soda is found in considerable abundance, as also some free silica.
Alluding to the observations of Mr. Clutterbuck, who found that
there was an intimate connexion between the fall of water at Watford
and the deep wells in London, the wells at Watford rising on Monday

action, or to any circumstances decomposing the salt, the less amount of chloride
of sodium, all other conditions being the same, should we expect to find in the
springs from such rocks. Among those other conditions we should have to regard
as important the relative porosity of rocks and their exposure to atmospheric
waters, which should abundantly percolate through them, and not readily run off
their exposed surfaces.

* The following are the analyses of the waters at the wells in Trafalgar Square
and Camden Town, the first by Messrs. Abel and Rowney, the second by Mr.
Richard Phillips :—

Trafalgar Square. Camden Town.

Carbonate of lime .................. AOA, Lhaseslavintes

Phosphate..of lime... (5.2:+2.-.00-+ DANA is 3 Ss hsin ck —
Carbonate of magnesia ............ Ay, See —
Sulphate of potash ............... ha Sg ark eames —
Sulphate Of soda’ J. ....0222.21..006 2's Sa 13-00
Chloride of sodinma:(.5..12...%05 2% PANS ee ee 11:10
Phosphate of soda, ,.+4. 200-000... (EL) Re —
Carinete OF SOGR, .... <-...-7-.->>206 POS a cokancn op 17°60
ee ews e anos censcny sqnseas. Le ee Cae trace.
OPS TUADUEE cous sa ckeysives says ae FUG Sines cteess 2°30

VOL. V.—PART I. Fé

Ixxxil PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

when there had been no pumping at the large breweries in London
from the deep wells on Sunday, Dr. Lyon Playfair remarks that this
would give about twenty miles for filtration through the chalk to the
deep wells in London, for so much water as may be supplied from the
direction of Watford.

The agricultural importance of phosphate of lime has of late years
caused more search to be made for this substance than formerly,
though its occurrence as a component part of certain organic remains
and of some rocks has been long known. Mr. Paine, of Farnham,
having pointed out that certain beds contained phosphate of lime in
sufficient abundance to render them of much agricultural value, our
colleague, Mr. Austen, was induced to investigate the mode of oceur-
rence of the phosphate of lime in his own neighbourhood, that of
Guildford. He found that the phosphate of lime nodules are abun-
dant in the upper greensand. They also occur in the gault, in two
distinct beds, remarkably persistent im the district. In describing
the position of these beds, Mr. Austen takes occasion to point out
the inaccuracy of the published geological maps and sections of the
district, calling attention to the beds of very different parts of the
cretaceous series which are brought up along the escarpment of the
North Down range. Having ascertained the facts connected with
the layers of phosphate of lime nodules in the vicinity of Guildford,
Mr. Austen examined the neighbourhood of Farnham, and found the
component parts of the cretaceous series the same as near Guildford,
with the exception that sandstones, occasionally cherty, represent near
Farnham the firestone on the eastward and the malm rock on the
west, differing however from them in containing scarcely any car-
bonate of lime. This Mr. Austen infers to have happened from a
stream of water, having a course somewhat north and south, drifting
rather coarse materials with little calcareous matter in this locality.

Mr. Austen regards the phosphoric acid of the nodules as of animal
origin. When the nodules are rubbed down they present a concen-
tric arrangement of parts, resembling bodies formed, like agates, by
infiltration into cavities ; and our colleague poimts out that, where
the casts of bivalve shells and ammonites are filled with matter con-
taining phosphate of lime, these forms must have been first inclosed
in the sand, that then the proper shelly matter was removed, and
finally that the earthy phosphate occupied the place of the hollow.
He supposes that the phosphoric acid may have formed part of the
coprolitic matter of the time, this matter in part preserved with its
original external form, while more frequently it was broken up and
the component portions diffused amid the sand and ooze. He also
draws attention to the conditions to which the beds containing these
substances have been exposed since their formation, having been
covered by thick deposits and having descended to depths beneath
the level of the sea, where they were exposed to an elevated tem-
perature corresponding with the depth and the amount of bad heat-
conducting bodies above them, so that many chemical changes were
effected, and among them a more general diffusion of phosphoric acid
in the mass.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixxxiil

Mr. Nesbit has also communicated to us some remarks on the
presence of phosphoric acid in the subordinate members of the cre-
taceous series. He states that he mentioned to Mr. Paine, in No-
vember 1847, the existence of a large amount of phosphoric acid in
a fertile Farnham marl, and that he subsequently obtained 28 per
cent. of phosphoric acid from portions of this marl, the general mass
containing about 2 percent. Nodules from the Maidstone gault also
gave him 28 per cent. of phosphoric acid. Other localities are no-
ticed, and as much as 69 per cent. of phosphoric acid is mentioned
as contained in a dark red sandstone rock occurring in masses in the
upper portion of the lower greensand at Hind Hill.

Mr. Wiggins has sent us a notice of the fossil bones and coprolitic
substances discovered in the crag of Suffolk, remarking on the value
of the latter for agricultural purposes, 200 tons of them having been
obtained from about a rood of ground,—an additional instance of the
remains of animals and their feeces entombed in rocks of different
geological ages becoming available for the growth of existing plants.

As regards phosphate of lime and its dissemination, which modern
researches have shown is much greater, when sufficient quantities of
rocks are examined, than appeared from the analyses of the small
portions usually employed,—a matter of interest when we consider
the phosphate of lime required for certain plants,— we should recollect
that when free carbonic acid is present in water, the phosphate, like
carbonate of lime, though not to the same amount, is very soluble.
Hence, especially when, as noticed by Mr. Austen, phosphate of lime
is disseminated in the state of fresh coprolites amid detrital matter,
and water containing free carbonic acid is present and can have access
to it, the phosphate of lime would be in a condition to be removed
and disseminated. Mr. Austen has alluded to the mixture of such
bodies with vegetable matter, to the decomposition of which, with
animal matter also, we might look for some, at least, of the carbonic
acid that would aid the solution of the phosphate of lime. As in the
case of the carbonate of lime previously noticed, when the solution of
this phosphate met with the silicates of potash or soda, whilst perco-
lating amid the rocks, the silicates would be decomposed by the car-
bonic acid, and the phosphate of lime thrown down. We should
expect,—in the same manner as carbonate of lime often replaces the
original matter of a shell which has been decomposed and removed
from the body of a rock, leaving those cavities commonly termed
casts,—that phosphate of lime, im localities where from accidental
circumstances it was somewhat abundantly filtering through rocks,
would also enter these and any other cavities, filling them under the
needful conditions of deposit. In like manner as we find carbonate of
lime separating itself from mud and silt in which it was disseminated,
forming the nodules so common in calcareo-argillaceous deposits,
should we also expect disseminated phosphates of lime to do the
same under fitting conditions; so that it would not necessarily fol-
low, however true in numerous cases, that nodules containing much
phosphate of lime were coprolitic. We can readily imagine circum-
stances very favourable for the solution and spread of these phosphates

Ixxxiv PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

amid layers of mud and silt. We find such phosphates surrounding
some fossils, such as crustaceans from the London clay, leading us to
infer a connexion between the animal matter and this substance.

We had a note from Mr. Farrer on Ingleborough Cave, accompa-
nied by a plan, in which its extension in the Great Scar limestone
beyond an old barrier of stalagmite, cut through in September 1837,
is shown. The length thus exhibited is considerable, and sand and
gravel of limestone and millstone grit are mentioned in the narrower
parts of the course of the cave. Basins of stalagmite occur, and the
accumulation of this substance is inferred to have forced the water
flowing in the cavity into anew channel. The detailed study of caves
in limestone countries will frequently be repaid, independently of the
discovery of any remains of animals in them, by much information as
to their origin. Sometimes we find a crack or joint enlarged by the
removal of the carbonate of lime of the rock by means of free carbonic
acid in the waters flowing into them from the surface ; at others no
fissure or joint is apparent, and the loss of matter carried away in so-
lution has been effected in the space between two beds, or by the
gradual action of this cause from either fractures, joints, or planes of
bedding, in such a manner that the connexion between the hollows
of the cave and these fissures through which water can find its way
is out of sight. Limestone regions, as you are well-aware, from the
spaces between their joints and beds, which get gradually enlarged,
often swallow up rains, so that streams in them are few, the absorbed
water abundantly bursting out at some level beneath where the phy-
sical conditions are such that the waters can no longer freely descend
downwards. The replacement of carbonate of lime in these caves by
means of stalagmites and stalactites is another matter of interest.
These may be so continued as to fill up the greater part of such
cavities, cementing at the same time many a fallen mass of limestone.
So long as the fissures were replete with water flowing outwards at
some convenient level, the loss of limestone would continue, supposing
the presence of the needful carbonic acid; but when by changes
effected, such as the elevation of the land relatively to the discharge
of drainage waters, the level preventing the escape of the water be-
came lower, and the atmosphere could enter the cave, the stalactites
and stalagmites would be formed, the component parts of which en-
tering slowly into the cavity would have been readily removed by the
water when it filled up the whole space.

Geological Changes from Alteration of the Earth's Axis of Rotation.

Respecting a possible change of climate resulting from a change
in the earth’s axis of rotation,—an hypothesis which has from time
to time engaged attention as one which might serve to account for
the occurrence of organic remains, supposed to be those of animals
and plants requiring a higher temperature than that of the regions
where such remains are found, we have had two communications. In
one from Mr. Saull, he calls attention to the undoubted evidences of
the land being at intervals above and beneath the waters, and to
changes of temperature over the same area. These effects he attri-

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixxxv

butes to a change in the earth’s axis of rotation arising from astro-
nomical causes, and describes the results which would follow from
such conditions. As to the possibility of a change in the earth’s
axis of rotation, we had a paper from Sir John Lubbock, in which he
first adverts to the revolution of a solid body on its principal axis,
and its continuing to do so for ever, unless such solid body be acted
upon by some extraneous force. He further observes that on this
supposition no change of climate would obtain on any given latitude
on the earth’s surface except from a change in internal temperature
or the heat of the sun.

He then notices that a change of climate alone is not sufficient to
account for geological changes, such as water covering a part of the
earth’s surface at one time and not at another: and remarks that the
moon’s attraction and the causes which produce the precession of the
equinoxes do not modify these conclusions.

Sir John Lubbock then states, that “it is unlikely that when
the earth was first set spinning, the axis of rotation should exactly
coincide with the axis of figure, unless indeed it were all perfectly
fluid.” He subsequently takes a period not so remote, when the earth,
from the different fusibility of its component parts, might have been
partly solid in irregular masses and partly fluid, and afterwards a still
more advanced state, in which land and water irregularly occurred on
its surface, suited to the existence of animal life, always supposing
the axis of rotation not to coincide with the axis of figure. If any
resistance exists, “‘the pole of the axis of rotation would describe a
spiral round the axis of figure, until finally it would become, as at
present, identical with it.” Supposing a displacement of the axis, the
movement of the water from one equator to another and the conse-
quent changes of climate are pointed out. Glancing at friction on
the surface of the earth rendering the invariability of geographical
latitude, otherwise existing, not a necessary consequence, at our igno-
rance of the earth’s structure beneath its crust, and of the history of
the changes effected during the process of cooling, Sir John considers
that ‘the utmost that can be accomplished by mathematics is to
explain under what hypothesis a change of the position of the axis of
rotation is possible or not.’’ Adverting to the dictum of Laplace,
that the changes on the earth’s surface and in the relative positions
of land and water cannot be accounted for by a change in the posi-
tion of the axis of rotation, he observes that im this statement Laplace
did not take into consideration either (1) the dislocation of the strata
by cooling, or (2) the friction of the surface. Finally, our colleague,
after admitting that if at any remote period the earth had been a ho-
mogeneous spheroid of any pure metal in a state of fusion, it would
in cooling always revolve about the principal axis of rotation, that of
figure, considers that there is sufficient evidence of want of homoge-
neity on the earth’s surface to bring a change of axis of rotation within
the limits of possibility.

It is always gratifyimg to find mathematicians so far interested in
our science as to occupy themselves with the solution of problems,
which, when we consider their important bearing, scarcely seem to

Ixxxvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

occupy the attention they would appear to deserve. The early con-
dition of our planet is one of these. By carefully considering the
possible and probable conditions connected with that state, we ‘ier
or retain, as the case may be, much that is of great importance in
theoretical veology. Hence the value of such communications as
this before us, wherein the conditions for a possible change in the
earth’s axis are considered. As you are familiar with the reasoning
founded on the figure of the earth, it is merely necessary to remind
you of its bearmg upon the original fluidity of our planet, a fluidity
which there has been a difficulty in referring to any other cause than
to a heat sufficient to keep the component particles asunder, im such
a manner that even to the centre of the mass the pressure was in-
sufficient to prevent a free motion of the particles of matter.

Sir John Lubbock would appear to have adopted the idea of a
cooling body, but referring to the want of homogeneity observed among
the parts of the earth thrust up into the atmosphere, and known to
us, he calls attention to the effects which might follow this want of ho-
mogeneity in our globe. It hence becomes important to learn the value
which can be attributed to such a cause. The depth to which we
may limit that portion of our spheroid, which is formed of such
substances as we find composing masses of rock exposed to our exami-
nation, is necessarily very difficult to fix. The highest mountains,
tising even in the warmest regions of our globe so far into the atmo-
sphere as to feel the influences of the low,temperature surrounding
our planet, however vast they may appear to us, merely give a few
miles of thickness ; aud when we fairly estimate the real depth of the
various ascertained accumulations of different geological ages, we
still arrive at such an insignificant portion of the earth’s radius, as
to see how very little of the component parts of its mass can be
known to us. Still we are bound to examine the evidence as to the
differences which may exist as regards homogeneity im the rock
masses. Some years since (fifteen), having occasion to estimate the
probable specific gravity of fifty miles in depth of the earth’s crust *,
we found, from direct experiment upon such rocks as appeared im-
portant, that these varied from 2°49 (chalk) to 3°03 (diallage rock
from the Lizard, Cornwall). Upon estimating the masses, taking the
surface into consideration, and therefore probably giving more differ-
ences to the depth supposed, fifty miles, than should be allowed, the
mean specific gravity came out as 2°59, higher than the density of
2°5, that commonly adopted, and yet sufficiently near that density for
the purpose intended.

Laplace estimated the mean density of our planet as 1°55, the
solid surface being considered as 1, hence taking the interior density
higher than that ‘of the external parts. We see, looking at such mi-
neral substances as form masses of rock, that they are all oxides, but
of the depth to which these oxides may descend we know nothing.
Unless we suppose them oxides from the beginning, that is, from
the time the matter of our earth may have been gathered together as
a body revolymg around the sun, an hypothesis for which it would

* Researches in Theoretical Geology.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixxxvil

appear difficult to find much reason, the various metals, such as
silictum, aluminium, calcium and the rest, became oxides from coming
in contact with oxygen. We have sufficient oxygen in our atmo-
sphere, supporting the animal and vegetable life which now exists,
and which probably also during a long lapse of geological time has
existed on the earth’s surface, to permit the assumption that in an
early state of our globe oxygen may readily have been far more
abundant among the gaseous portion of the matter forming our
planet, including its atmosphere, than at present, when animal and
vegetable life is adjusted to the quantity remaining.

As far as we are acquainted with the substances forming our globe,
we may have an oxidized solid crust, supporting in parts a compara-
tively thin and irregularly-disposed covering of saline water, and
enveloped by a gaseous covering, the interior not composed of oxides,
but more or less homogeneous, allowing for the effects of any heat
which may be supposed to remain in it, and for the densities due to
the gravitation towards its centre of all the particles of matter of
which the earth is composed.

When we have to consider any changes in the earth’s axis of
rotation due to the absence of homogeneity in its component parts,
we have also to regard the probability of this want of homogeneity
extending to a depth at which it would have any appreciable value.
As far as the distribution on the face of the earth of the igneous rocks
is known to us,—rocks whence, with the exception chiefly of lime-
stone deposits (many of which have been accumulated by means of
animal life), so many others have been formed,—we do not find any
accumulation of masses of very different density in one part more
than another, so as to have produced very marked differences in
density on at least the surface of our spheroid. On the contrary,
we find the probable distribution of granite and granitic rocks with
the same density, very uniform in various parts of the earth’s surface,
and their abrasion has furnished abundant materials for other rocks.
The like happens with the heavier compounds of hornblendic and
felspathic substances, and the strata derived from them. Masses of
limestone are indeed here and there more irregularly distributed,
but as the limestones do not much differ from the granites in specific
gravity, no great effects would follow their unequal distribution, more
particularly when we take into consideration the small depth to which
they would probably descend in the earth’s crust.

We have also to regard the effects arising from the dislocation of
the strata, as noticed by Sir Johu Lubbock. There are few geolo-
gists who are not now prepared to admit that the surface of the
earth, since we may assume any solidity in that surface, has been in
an unquiet state, some large areas moving upwards, some downwards,
and these movements sometimes repeated in the same area: deposits
crushed and. folded against each other here and there in long lines,
so that parts of them are thrust high up above the level of the sea,
while masses of accumulations are forced asunder in other situations,
and mineral matter raised from beneath occupies parts of the area
over which they previously spread. Up to the present time mineral

Ixxxvili PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

matter is here and there vomited forth in fusion, or blown out of
vents by the discharge of vapours and gases, and large tracts of
the solid surface of the earth are violently shaken, and portions of
land raised or depressed. We also know that at the present, slow
changes in the relative levels of sea and land are being effected.
Thus from our own experience and from the study of what has
formerly happened, we find that the surface of our planet is and has
been, during the lapse of such geological time as we can trace, in an
unquiet state. We of course know nothing of the height to which
the crushing or elevating of rocks into mountain-chains may have
forced mineral accumulations, though we may often infer that very
great heights are but the remains of rocks, the removed portions of
which rose still further into the atmosphere; but, taking the Hima- |
layan chain as the highest land, we have nothing rising six miles
above the sea-level. If we increase this height to ten miles, we should
still have an insignificant fraction of the earth’s radius.

The researches of Mr. Hopkins lead him to infer that at present
the solid crust of the earth cannot be less than 800 to 1000 miles
thick. Supposing this to be so, the hypothesis of a cooling globe
would give a less thickness in past geological times, one gradually
diminishing to the early period when solid matter could be first
formed. I need scarcely call your attention to the view which has .
been taken of the forcing-up of mountain-chains, and the unequal
tilting and adjustment of masses of the surface to accommodate the
crust to the still fluid mass beneath, as cooling proceeded. Neither
need I speak of the effects which would follow from the action of the
heated and still fluid mass upon the portions of the fragments which
may have descended different depths into its surface, or of the intru-
sion of the molten matter amid the broken masses; we have only to
inquire how far these breakings-up and squeezings of the previously
solid crust at different times is likely to have interfered materially
with its general uniformity, so that any important change in the
earth’s axis, with its geological consequences, may have resulted.

As regards the mineral matter thrust up into the atmosphere, we
see that, as soon as this is effected, it is attacked along the sea-level
by the breakers, and both on coasts and inland by atmospheric in-
fluences, all tending to lower the altitude of the mass so elevated,
and to carry its component parts into the sea, filling up any inequalities
which may have been formed beneath it, in consequence of this
surface-movement of the rocks. It is during this removal of mineral
matter and its spread in various directions, that the remains of the
animal and vegetable life of succeeding geological times become
entombed, adding, and in many instances most materially, to the
masses accumulated in various ways upon the previously moved rocks.
This action therefore tends to plane down the unequal surface above
the sea and fill up inequalities in its bed. While this proceeded,
we should expect that the heated matter beneath would also melt
down any portions of the solid masses, squeezed and forced into it
by these movements, to a distance from the surface corresponding
with the general heat of the globe at the time, and therefore the

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixxxix

deeper as geological time advanced and the earth gradually parted
with its heat by radiation into surrounding space.

Under this view there would be a tendency over the face of the
globe to retain a general crust upon it of a thickness increasing with
the lapse of geological time, less uneven beneath as a whole than
above from the kind of action to which it would be subjected, and
yet no part protruding so far as to cause any very material difference
in the figure of the earth or of density in the parts of such crust,
viewing the subject on the large scale. It would not appear im-
probable, that notwithstanding the dislocation, unequal tilting, and
squeezing together of masses, the adjustments were such as to keep
a spheroidal coating of the mass beneath which did not very mate-
rially differ as a whole in density. Should this not have been so, we
have in our geological hypotheses to take ito account the effects
poited out by Sir John Lubbock as resulting from the modification
or absence of the general conditions above inferred, their amount
or geological value necessarily depending upon the magnitude of the
causes to which he adverts.

Such have been the labours of our Society during the past year.
They embrace most varied subjects, all tending to the advance of our
science, and certainly showing no decrease in the zeal of our members
or in the importance of the matter brought before us. The discus-
sions which have arisen upon the communications have been cha-
racterized by the same kind feeling and love of truth, for its own
sake, as heretofore, and we may congratulate ourselves with the cer-
tainty that the energies of our body are unimpaired, that the feeling
of brotherhood is as strong among us as ever, and that the Society
never was in a more efficient condition for the promotion of the branch
of knowledge we cultivate than at this our forty-first anniversary.

OTHER GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES OF THE UNITED K1InNGpom.

While we have been thus engaged, the other geological societies of

our country have also been occupied with their duties during the past
ear.

: The Geological Society of Dublin has continued to aid the pro-
gress of geology, though its meetings, now held at Trinity College,
Dublin, were suspended in May and June, from the occupation, in
part, of that college by troops in consequence of the disturbed state
of Dublin at that time. There were two communications from Mr.
Mallet. ‘The first on molecular changes observed in the structure of
recent shells. He found that in some recent oyster-shells, imbedded
at about tide-level in red and grey mar! cliffs, occurring on the north
of Belfast Lough and eastward of Carrickfergus, the cavities between
the nacreous plates were in progress of being filled up by calcareous
spar, in rhombs, whose minor axes were perpendicular, or nearly so,
to the plates of the shell. When this filling-up had been nearly per-
fected, the whole substance of the shell had undergone a change of
molecular structure, and in place of the parallel plates presenting the
usual character under the microscope they were obliterated, and the
whole substance of the shell had assumed the crystalline form of eal-

XC PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

careous spar, with the axes of the rhombs perpendicular to the original
plates of the shell. Thus, Mr. Mallet considers, a molecular induc-
tion of crystalline form appears to have been propagated from the
primary nuclei of crystals deposited in the original cavities of the
shell, such that all the calcareous particles of the latter took a new
arrangement in obedience to the form and position of these primary
rhombs. He infers a change without solution, and therefore that the
fact observed belongs to a class that might be much extended with
valuable results. He remarks that belemnites in calcareous strata
always assume the form of arragonite and not of calcareous spar.

The second paper by Mr. Mallet was on the adoption of an uniform
principle of making geological sections. He proposes that all geolo-
gical sections should be made in north and south and in east and west
directions. He showed by a map of parallel sections of an imaginary
country, so laid down on the same sheet at equal distances, that a
complete picture of the interior of the country may be produced,
and that from such a set of parallel sections, at right angles and
equidistant, other sections at any required angle between north and
south and east and west may be derived and laid down by well-known
mathematical methods. He considers that if this system were
adopted it would give uniformity and mathematical precision to all
future sections, as from them, without limit, any other sections might
be derived. Mr. Mallet remarks, that as our globe has all its great
forces In connexion with lines of symmetry on its surface, 7. e. north
and south or east and west, there is reason to desire that our geolo-
gical sections should also be im lines of symmetry, as at some distant
time they must connect themselves with the great cosmical forces
concerned both with the apparent unsymmetrical confusion of the
surface, and with the real order of forces ever acting within and upon
our globe.

Mr. M‘Adam communicated a notice of the cuttings of the Belfast
and Ballymene Railway, describing the appearance of the trappean
rocks and of the drift cut through.

The other papers were from officers of the Geological Survey.
Professor Oldham, the president of the Geological Society of Dublin,
described in detail and exhibited a map of the area covered by drift
in the county Wicklow. He also exhibited and described the maps
and sections of the same county lately published by the Survey, and
Professor Edward Forbes gave a detailed notice of certain fossils,
apparently the oldest that we are yet acquainted with, to which he
assigned the name of Oldhamia, having been first observed by Pro-
fessor Oldham, near Bray, in 1844. Professor E. Forbes also com-
munieated to the Society an account of the researches of the Survey
into the Silurian fossils of Ireland, especially those of Portrane, and
Mr. Du Noyer read a paper descriptive of the mode of occurrence of
certain interesting dykes, so well exposed by the railway cuttings of
the Belfast Junction Railway, near Dundalk.

The Geological Society of Cornwall has continued to advance.
Mr. Pattison communicated ‘A brief description of the coast of
Cornwall between the Padstow River and Perran Sands,” in which

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. x¢cl
he notices the fossiliferous beds of Dias Cove, containing T'urbino-
lopsis celtica and Encrinites, and of Permizen Bay, in which Twurdi-
nolopsis celtica, and another coral, Crinoidea, Spirifera, and Ortho-
ceras ludense (common) are found. He further mentions the
greenstone and associated rocks of Trevose Head ; the fossiliferous
beds of Bodruthan Steps, where among other remains those of a trilo-
bite are discovered; the quartzose rocks of St. Eval cliffs; the discovery
cf a Spirifer near Trevarrian; the variegated slates, cut by a great north
and south elvan, of Watergate Bay, these variegated beds resting upon
the greenish and brown slate, with limestones, of St. Columb Porth,
in which Mr. Pattison found Turbinolopsis and another coral, pro-
bably Favosites, Crinoidea, Spirifera (S. disyuncta and another),
Orthoceras ludense, a Goniatite and a Calymene. He states that,
nearing New Quay, a hard blue calcareous rock contained Favosites,
Orthis or Terebratula, and numerous remains of Encrinites. In the
fine raised beach at New Quay Mr. Pattison detected the remains of
shells, determined by Mr. Couch as those of Modiola vulgaris, Cy-
therea chione, and of a Patella and Ostrea, all molluscs now living in
the adjoming sea. Crinoidea were found in the brown sandstones
and slates of Kast Pentire Point.

In a notice of the trap veins and limestone rocks of Towan Head,
St. Columb Minor, Mr. Tweedy describes and gives a map of that
interesting point of land, where fossiliferous argillaceous slate and
calcareous beds, one worked for limestone, are traversed by numerous
veins of trappean rocks. He notices nine or ten of these veins as
occurring in one locality within a distance of fifty feet, the igneous
rock of some dykes being vesicular.

Mr. Peach has again added to his lists of Cornish fossils in a paper
“On the Fossiliferous Strata of part of the South-east coast of Corn-
wall.” He mentions additional specimens of Onchus, supposed to be
O. Murchisoni, from Lantivet Bay, as also a portion of an Astero-
lepis. He traces the fish-beds from near Pencarra Point, by Trega-
brown Hill, with strata termed Bellerophon-beds, across Fowey Har-
bour. Quartzose strata and claret-coloured slates accompany these
beds. Detailed accounts are given of the localities in which the fish
remains have been discovered. Hard rocks, intermingled with soft
red sandstones, some brown beds and thin layers of impure limestone,
run from Lantick Bay across to White Horse Ferry, and contain
corals, crinoidea, orthoceratites, large shells and trilobites, the latter
rare. In the slaty beds, seaward from Black Bottle, Lantick Bay,
large corals are detected, and in thin seams of impure limestones cri-
noidea, large Turbinolopsides and shells are abundant. A fine speci-
men of a trilobite is described and figured, from Punch’s Cross. Mr.
Peach mentions the surface-markings, commonly termed ripple-
marks, of some localities, and thinks that the marks upon one bed-
surface, from Highgate quarry, St. Veep, may have been due to the
effects of rain, as has been supposed the case with certain surface-
markings in the new red sandstone of Lancashire.

In a paper “ On an insulated patch of Devonian strata in the parish
of St. Stephen’s by Launceston, Cornwall,” Mr. Pattison describes

xell PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

certain beds apparently intermingled with the carboniferous rocks of
the district. He notices ‘‘ dark slates and limestones, with traces of
plants, goniatites and other remains analogous to mountain limestone
fossils,” as forming the beds on the south, on which certain hard
sandstones and shales repose. Beyond the latter, northward, instead
of the common carboniferous rocks of the district, beds of flagstone,
a thin-bedded slate and a calcareous rock come in. These are suc-
ceeded on the north by coarse gritty rocks, interstratified with shells
of the coal-measure series. The flagstones are worked at Yeolm-
bridge, Werrington Park. Fossils in the quarry are rare, and consist
of Turbinolopsis celtica, Sanguinolaria elliptica and Bellerophon
hiulcus ; but in an old quarry in the range of the same beds, near
Underwood farm, about a mile distant, organic remains are more
numerous. Mr. Pattison there found Turbinolopsis celtica, Amplexus
tortuosus, Crinoidea, Sanguinolaria elliptica, Avicula, Orthis, Acro-
culia ?, Orthoceras, Goniatites ?, Clymenia?, Bellerophon hiulcus and
Phacops Latreilli.

The Rev. D. Williams communicated a paper ‘On the several
Volcanic interferences which alternate and are concurrent with, and
eventually supersede, the Old Red Sandstone of the British Isles.’ In
it he considers that there have been three protracted periods of vol-
canic interferences during the accumulation of the old red sandstone
of this country.

Mr. Richard Edmonds noticed his further success in finding the
abundant remains of Helix pulchella beneath the sand-hillocks on the
coast of Cornwall, a fact of interest, he observes, inasmuch as the
author of the Cornish Fauna has remarked that if the remains of
these land shells be of frequent occurrence in such situations, ‘ we
must come to the conclusion that they were once abundant in Corn-
wall, but are now gradually becoming extinct in this locality.” As
bearmg upon this point, Mr. Edmonds gives the following list of land
shells found beneath the surface of the Phillack Towans (Sand-hills),
with the exception of Zonites pygmeus, taken from Whitesand Bay
Towans. Those marked with an asterisk are not now found living
within ten miles of Penzance :—Bulimus acutus, B. obscurus, Cary-
chium minimum, Clausilia biplicata, Conovulus bidentatus, C. denti-
culatus, Helix aspersa, H. caperata, H. ericetorum, H. fulva*, H.
Jusca, H. hortensis, H. nemoralis, H. pulchella, H. virgata, Pupa
Anglica, P. marginata*, P. umbilicata, Vertigo edentula, V. pa-
lustris*, V. pygmea*, Vitrina pellucida, Zonites alliarius, Z. cel-
larius, Z. nitidulus, Z. pygmeus*, and Z. rotundatus. It may be
needful to observe that Phillack Towans are seven miles from Pen-
zance, and that though now receiving additions, the mass of them
belongs to a relative level of sea and land on the Cornish coasts dif-
ferent from the present, the north-western part having been formed
at the period anterior to the raising of so many beaches on this coast.
Indeed these Towans constituted the contemporaneous continuation
of those beaches, being composed of the sand drifted by the winds
from the shores then existing. ,

Mr. John Garby presented to the Society a very valuable catalogue

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. xclll

of the minerals found in Cornwall, with their localities. In this he
enumerates no less than 159 mineral substances as discovered in that
county, one furnishing such excellent opportunities for the study of
the mode of occurrence of numerous minerals. For facilitating that
study the catalogue of Mr. Garby cannot fail to be of very great ser-
vice.

Mr. Henwood communicated a Description of the Brazilian method
of Washing (dressing) Gold, and Mr. William Vivian, a practical
miner, a paper on the Formation and Direction of Mineral Veins.

The Geological Society of Manchester had the following commu-
nications made to it :—‘‘ Notes on a section from Parkgate to Bux-
ton,” by Mr. Ormerod; “ A Catalogue of Geological Specimens from
Van Diemen’s Land, with some observations on them,” by Mr.
Moore; “A short account of the Geology and Natural History of
the Orange River, South Africa,’ by Captain Miller; ‘An account
of Excursions in Van Diemen’s Land, and notices of its Geology,”
by Mr. Moore; ‘ An account of the Island of Labuan, East Indies,”’
by Mr. Bellot; “An account of the Coal District of Tyrone,’’ by
Mr. Griffith; and “ Notes on the Coal Districts of Munster and
Tyrone,” by Mr. Ehias Hall.

PALEZONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

This Society, which we may consider as one very intimately con-
nected with our own, has continued to advance steadily and prosper-
ously. Its members are now increased to 728,—a large number
when we consider that the Society was only founded in March 1847,
The Monograph of the Univalves in the Tertiary deposit, named the
Crag, by Mr. Searles Wood, has been published, and the Descrip-
tions of the Reptiles of the London Clay, by Professors Owen and
Bell, is in a forward state. The Society has been most fortunate in
having induced Professor Owen to publish his great work on the
British Fossil Reptiles through it. A work of this magnitude and
character cannot fail firmly to establish the Paleeontological Society
in the good opinion of the scientific public. The Monograph of the
Fossils of our Magnesian Limestone, by Mr. King, is far advanced,
as also the Cephalopoda of the London Clay, by Mr. Edwards. The
Bivalve Shells of the Crag, by Mr. Searles Wood, will be ready in
1850.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE UNITED KInGpom.

Some of the results of this Survey have been communicated to our
Society by Professors Ramsay and Edward Forbes, and by Messrs.
Beete Jukes, Selwyn, Aveline and Salter, in their papers and notes
read before us, and previously noticed, the officers of the Survey thus
endeavouring to assist in the general progress of this Society. Not-
withstanding that the wet character of the past summer was by no
means favourable to field investigations, more particularly in moun-
tainous districts, much progress has been made in this branch of the
public service. The complicated district of North Wales has now
been so far examined that its completion may be expected during the

XClv PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

present year. ‘The various overlaps of the different accumulations,
the modifications of the conditions under which they have been
formed, the intermingling of igneous products, the great thickness of
the deposits, and the distribution of the remains of life entombed in
them, render this region one of great interest, and well-worthy the
searching investigation that it has undergone. The maps of Cardi-
ganshire and Montgomeryshire, including the mineral veins of those
counties, have been published during the year, and maps of other
portions of North Wales are now in the hands of the engraver.
‘Dorsetshire is nearly completed, and much information will be found
in the map of that district, not only as respects the range and mode
of occurrence of the oolitic and cretaceous series, but also as regards
the fractures or faults by which it is traversed, and which have been
surveyed in great detail. The examination of the tertiary deposits of
Dorsetshire and Hampshire has also far advanced. Derbyshire is
approaching to completion, and much progress made in the coal di-
strict of Staffordshire.

The map of the county Wicklow has been published, and with it
sections, on the usual scale of six inches to the mile for both height
and distance, which exhibit the mode of occurrence of the various
rocks of that district. The sections more particularly exhibit the
manner in which masses of pre-existing deposits (Silurian and Cam-
brian) have been hoisted up upon the granite of the great range of
that rock extending through the county Wicklow by the counties
of Carlow and Wexford to the southward. The general curve of the
uprise is well seen in these sections, with portions of the uplifted and
altered sedimentary rocks still sticking upon the granite, showing that
the movement was effected posterior to the deposit of the Silurian
rocks of the counties Wicklow and Wexford, and anterior to the de-
posit of the mountain limestone. Indeed, more to the southward it is
found that the uprise of the granite was anterior to the deposit of the
old red sandstone, since the latter contains pebbles and smaller de-
tritus of the granite upon which it is seen quietly to repose. The manner
in which the mountain limestone overlaps the old red sandstone, and
reposes directly upon the granite, near Carlow, is shown in one of the
sections above mentioned. The sections also exhibit the distances to
which the sedimentary deposits have been altered or metamorphosed
in consequence of the intrusion of the granite amid them. A large
plan of the mining district of the Ovoca has also been published, and
the maps of the counties of Carlow and Kildare will shortly appear.
Portions of the Queen’s county and county Kilkenny are completed,
and the counties of Dublin and Wexford are in progress.

Musevom or Practicat Geoutocy, Lonpon.

The donations to this establishment have been, as heretofore, both
abundant and valuable. Great additions have been made to the col-
lections illustrative of the applications of geology to the useful pur-
poses of life, and of the mineral wealth of our country ; and it should
be borne in mind with respect to such establishments, that the appli-
cations of science by advancing civilization at the same time increase

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XCV

the opportunity of extending and advancing science itself. Thus the
one aids the other, and both combined promote the general progress
of mankind, as witness our railways, electrical telegraphs and steam
navigation.

As connected with the objects of this Society, it may be mentioned
that the investigation at the Museum for the Admiralty of the coals
best suited to our steam navy has made great progress, that one report
on this subject has been presented to Parliament and has been printed,
and that a second report will soon appear. The waters of many of
our streams and springs are under examination for the Board of
Health. The chemical composition of fossil remains of different ages
is under investigation, and already, as has been above mentioned,
shells from the Silurian rocks have been found to retain animal
matter. The new house for the Museum in Jermyn Street is now
nearly completed ; when finished, the collections of the Geological
Survey, illustrative of the geology of our country, including its organic
remains, and of our mineral wealth and its applications, will be there
exhibited gratuitously to the public, as those collections which the
limited space in the present provisional museum will permit being
shown now are daily, and have been for several years past,—a gratui-
tous admission which has been marked by very slight damage, and
that not chargeable upon the working classes.

A second volume, in two parts, of the Memoirs of the Geological
Survey of Great Britain and of the Museum of Practical Geology
has been published during the past year, and illustrations of British
Fossils will shortly appear in connection with the publications of the
Survey, each decade consisting of the same kind of fossils. The first
decade will be devoted to fossil Star-fishes and Echinites, and the
second to Trilobites.

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF FRANCE.

The communication to this Society which succeeded those we
had an opportunity of noticing in the Address for the last year,
was from M. Frapolli on facts illustrative of the deposits of gyp-
sum, dolomite and rock-salt. He first mentions the gypseous deposits
of the country surrounding the Hartz, found in all the secondary
rocks, either in small isolated patches, as is generally the case in the
Subhercynian Gulf, or in great deposits, as in Thuringia, where it
appears on the limits of the muschelkalk and keuper, ranging like a
great abrupt crescent-formed wall on the southern side of the Hartz.
This gypsum is always stratified, the beds bemg parallel with those
of the rocks amid which it is found, such as zechstein, grés bigarré,
muschelkalk, variegated marls and chalk. A peculiar mineral aspect
is stated to characterize the gypsum of each of these deposits. M.
Frapolli considers certain of these gypsums, those of the muschel-
kalk, trias, Jura rocks and chalk, to have been of metamorphic
origin, and that the sulphates of lime were originally carbonates
of lime, the metamorphism having been effected in the dry way (la
voie séche), gaseous emanations having reached them from beneath.
On this head he quotes a conversation with Berzelius, whose loss to

XeVl PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

our body we have this day had to record, who said, ‘‘ Give me a sub-
stance containing sulphur,—admit the presence of the vapours of sul-
phur, or sulphurous or sulph-hydrous vapours,—let limestone be also
present, and water on the surface or in the atmosphere, and we shall
readily have gypsum.” M. Frapolli adopts sulphurous acid as the
principal agent of gypsification, and supposes that, evolved from be-
neath, it acted on the edges of recently fractured beds of limestone,
replacing the carbonic acid of the latter, the sulphurous being con-
verted into sulphuric acid under such a pressure that a portion of the
oxygen of the carbonic was appropriated by the sulphurous acid, the
remainder escaping as oxide of carbon.

The gypsum of the zechstein, regularly interstratified in lenticular
masses with limestones and dolomite, is not thought to have been
formed in the manner above noticed, but by the wet way (/a voie
humide), sulphurous acid gas bemg evolved through cracks at the
bottom of the sea, which, forming gypsum with the lime it found,
stopped up these cracks, others bemg however produced from time to
time by new movements in the earth’s crust, so that alternations of
gypsum and limestone were effected. In like manner the dolomitic
rocks of the district are inferred to have a metamorphic origin, the
needful gaseous emanations having acted on limestones. With respect
to the rock-salt, its occurrence in alternating lenticular portions amid
the dolomite and gypsum of the zechstein, it is supposed, might
arise from the presence, in the waters, of the carbonates of lime and
soda, and the simultaneous emission of sulphurous and hydrochloric
acids, or of chlorine with the chloride of magnesium from vents at
the bottom of the sea, the abundance of each varying, sometimes the
sulphurous acid being the most abundant, sometimes chlorine, and at
others chloride of magnesium.

M. Elie de Beaumont communicated to the Society an extended
note on the most ancient systems of European mountains, in which,
after adverting to his well-known labours on the subject of the eleva-
tion of mountain systems, the first account of which was read before
the Academy of Sciences of Paris in June 1829, he alludes to his
continued researches in the same field, and describes four systems,
succeeding each other in the order of geological time, to which he
assigns the names of the Finisterre, the Longmynd, the Morbihan,
and the Westmoreland or Hundsriick systems.

It would be impossible to give a correct view, in the limits to which
we are necessarily restricted in an address of this kind, of the mass
of matter connected with his subject which M. Ele de Beaumont
has brought forward in this memoir. We must refer to the paper
itself for tables and calculations which are essential to the right un-
derstanding of his communication, one which, moreover, is drawn up
in a very condensed form, and therefore difficult of satisfactory abridg-
ment.

M. Ehe de Beaumont remarks that during the greater part of his
labours on mountain systems he had used a graphic method of record-
ing his observations, employing a stereographic projection on the
horizon of Mont Blanc, which he had calculated and had engraved

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XCVil

at the commencement of his researches, and of which he availed him-
self in his lectures. He points to the advantages which the graphic
and trigonometrical methods each possess, observing that though the
former so well addresses itself to the eye, the latter more correctly
gives the mean of numerous observations. }

“The fundamental problem,”’ observes M. Elie de Beaumont, after
alluding to the systems of small ares of great circles, “presented by
a like system of small ares observed on the surface of the globe, where
they are marked by the crests of mountains or by the outcrop of beds,
consists in determining the great circle of comparison, to one of the
elements of which each of the small arcs observed is parallel.

‘<The small arcs determined by observation may be generally con-
sidered as being themselves infinitely small secants, or tangents to so
many small circles resulting from the intersection of the surface of
the sphere with planes parallel to the great circle of comparison,
forming the equator of the whole system. Each of these small circles
is a parallel with respect to the equator of the system; it has the
same poles as it, and these poles are the two points where all the
great circles perpendicular to the small arcs, constituting the system
of parallel traces determined by observation, intersect.

‘“The problem arising from such a system of parallel traces ob-
served on the surface of the globe consists in determining these two
poles, or, what amounts to the same thing, its equator ; 7. e. the great
circle of comparison to which each of the small arcs observed may be
considered as parallel. This determination, M. Elie de Beaumont
observes, would be easy, and might be made after two, or at least a
few observations, if the condition of parallelism was rigorously satis-
fied: since, however, this in general is but approximatively accom-
plished, the determination of the great circle of comparison can only
follow from the means of numerous observations, well-combined with
each other ; and thus, while the observations are not very multiplied
or spread over a wide space, we can only advance towards this deter-
mination by successive approximations.”

M. Elie de Beaumont then points out the mode of arriving at the
results proposed,—one which requires to be studied in the memoir
itself, on account of the necessary formule and tables. Employing
the method adopted, he enters into great detail respecting the evi-
dences of the systems treated of.

With respect to the Westmoreland and Hundsrtick system, one
referred to a geological date posterior to the Silurian rocks, including
the tilestone, but anterior to the old red sandstone or Devonian rocks,
M. Elie de Beaumont passes in review the different localities in
Europe which he includes in it, commencing in the north, and taking
a mean for the direction of the small arc of the great circle traversing
the centre of the locality. This gives for Lapland a direction of E.
22° 30’ N.; for Esthonia, E.17° N.; for Wisby, in the Isle of Goth-
land, E. 22° 30' N.; for the Grampians, E. 38° N.; Keswick, West-
moreland, E. 37° 30! N.; Church Stretton, Shropshire, E. 42° N.;
Falmouth, Cornwall, E. 45° N.; Freiberg, Erzgebirge, E. 27° 55'N.;
Hof, Frankenwald, E. 28° N.; Prague, Bohemia, E. 28° 40! N. ;

VOL. V.— PART I. J

xevill PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Ardenne, E. 25° N.; Condros, E. 35° N.; Taunus, E. 33° 13’ N.;
Binger Loch, direction of the quartz rocks and green slates, E.
43° 50! N.; Hundsriick-Taunus (chain), E. 27° 30! N.; St. Malo,
Brittany, E. 42° 15! N. and E. 47° N. ; Schirmeck, E. 30° N.; Saint-
Dié, Vosges, E. 35° N.; Montagne Noire, E. 34° N.; Hyéres, E.
22° 30' N.; and for Ajaccio, Corsica, E. 22° 30' N,

From these twenty-two local mean directions M. Elie de Beaumont
proceeds to determine, trigonometrically, the direction of the great
circle of comparison of this system considered as passing through the
Binger Loch, and states the result to be the “supposition that the
great circle passing the Binger Loch, with a direction E. 315° N.,
is the great circle of comparison, or the equator of the Westmoreland
and Hundsriick system.”

M. Elie de Beaumont, adopting the same methods, next examines
the evidence respecting the direction of the Longmynd system, one
formed anterior to the Caradoc sandstone. The mean local directions
are considered to be, for Church Stretton (Longmynd district), N.
25° E.; Morlaix, Brittany, N. 21° E.; Saint-James, Normandy,
N. 22° 30' E.; Limousin, N. 26° E.; Freiberg, Erzgebirge, N.
33° 57! 30” E.; Zlabings (for Moravia and the adjoming portions of
Bohemia and Austria), N. 32°. 30’ E.; middle distance between
Gotheborg and Gefle, Sweden, N. 38° E.; Uleaborg, north-west of
Finland, N. 423° E.; Viborg, south of Finland, N. 50° E. ; and for
Saint-Tropez, Montagnes des Maures and the Esterel, N. 35°45! 46” EK.
Proceeding with these means, as with those for the Westmoreland
and Hundsriick system, our colleague finds that the Longmynd
system, referred to the Binger Loch, has a direction of N. 31° 15! E.,
differing from the former system by 27° 15'. M. Elie de Beaumont
supposes that, provisionally, the. great circle passing by the Binger
Loch and making an angle of 30°. 15! towards the N.E., is the equator
or great circle of comparison for the Longmynd system.

Adverting to his former researches respecting the direction of
mountain chains, inserted in the French edition of the ‘ Geological
Manual’ and the ‘ Traité de Géognosie’ of M. Daubuisson, in which
he notices it, M. Elie de: Beaumont next considers the Finisterre
system, one formed anterior to the Silurian rocks. The direction of
this system at Brest is stated to be E. 21° 45' N., and he infers
that it can be found in Sweden and Finland, and that it may be pos-
sible to recognise it in the fundamental rocks of the Pyrenees and
Catalonia. The Finisterre system referred to the Binger Loch, be-
comes E. 11°35! N., differmg by 20° from the Westmoreland and
Hundsrick system, and more than:47° from that of the Longmynd.

Under the name of the Morbihan system, a direction of beds in
Brittany is noticed, and considered to be due to an elevation different
from those described previously. This direction is taken for Vannes
at E. 38° 15'S., and the system itself, it is thought, may be widely
extended. Certain directions of beds in the departments of La Corréze,
La Dordogne and La Charente are thought referable to it, as also the
direction of the crystalline rocks in the environs of Messina, and of
certain rocks in the Bohmerwald and Erzgebirge, and in the Ukraine.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XCix

The Morbihan system is also inferred to be indicated in Labrador
and Canada.

Respecting the relative geological ages of the four systems noticed,
they are considered to be in the following order, the first being the
most ancient, and the third formed anterior to all the Silurian accu-
mulations :—

1. System of Finisterre.

2. System of the Longmynd.

3. System of Morbihan.

4, System of Westmoreland and the Hundsriick.

Treating of the old slates of Brittany, whether taking the direction
of the Finisterre, Longmynd or Morbihan systems, M. Elie de Beau-
mont notices their envelopment, in an unconformable manner, by a
great deposit of sandstones and conglomerates referred by him to the
age of the Caradoc sandstone. M. Elie de Beaumont points to the
greater extension of the sea at the time of the Caradoc sandstone
than at the period when the previous fossiliferous beds were deposited,
a sea covering portions of Brittany, Scandinavia and northern Ame-
rica, so that the first Silurian beds in those countries were contem-
poraneously formed, and are referable to the Caradoc sandstone, a
great absence of accumulations being observable in the same regions,
this absence in Brittany corresponding with the double period of
tranquillity existing between the elevation of the Finisterre and Mor-
bihan systems. He then inquires respecting the evidence of a geo-
logical horizon of the date of the Caradoc sandstone in Wales, one
which has been ascertained from independent observations, during
the progress of the Geological Survey, and of which a notice was
communicated to you by Professor Ramsay and Mr. Aveline in a
memoir previously noticed. ‘Taking into account the system of La
Vendée proposed by M. Rivitre, which M. Elie de Beaumont con-
siders not unfounded on facts, though he is not personally acquainted
with them, the following is his view of the deposits of rocks and of
systems of elevation formed in western Europe during the earlier
times of the palzeozoic period.

1. Green satiny slates of Belle-Isle.
1. System of La Vendée.
(Direction, N.N.W. and S.S.E.)
2. Cumbrian rocks of Brittany.
2. System of Finisterre.
(Direction, at Brest, W. 21° 45’ S. and E. 21° 45’ N.)
3. Green slates of Wales and felspar rocks.

3. System of the Longmynd.
(Direction, at the Binger Loch, N. 31° 15’ E. and S. 31° 15’ W.)

4. Fossiliferous series of the Bala limestone.

4. System of Morbihan.
(Direction, at Vannes, W. 38° 15’ N. and E. 38° 15’ S.)
g 2

Cc PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

5. Silurian series, including the Tilestone.

5. System of Westmoreland and the Hundsrick.
(Direction, at the Binger Loch, W. 31° 30’ S. and E. 31° 30’ N.)
6. Devonian series.

An additional note is appended respecting the prolongation of the
systems of the Ballons, of Westmoreland and the Hundsrick, and of
the Céte d’Or into distant countries, especially into North America,
the Russian dominions and China.

M. Favre communicated observations on the relative positions of
the rocks in the western Alps of Switzerland and of Savoy, in which
he noticed,—1. the crystalline rocks ; 2. the metamorphic rocks; 3.
the Vallorsine conglomerate ; 4. the Jurassic series ; 5. the cretaceous
deposits, divided into (a) Neocomian, (4) first rudiste zone, (c) Al-
bian rocks, gault and greensand, and (d) the Seeven limestone of
M. Studer; and, 6. the nummulitic limestone. The cretaceous de-
posits are stated to rest unconformably on the Jurassic series, and at
the Diablerets the nummulitic limestone reposes on the green sand,
the fossils of the two rocks being mingled. M. Favre notices a bed
of coal in the nummulitic deposits sufficiently thick to be worked in
the chain of the Titlis and other localities, and considers that the
nummulitic rocks are independent of the cretaceous series on which
they rest. The Macigno is then noticed, and it is inferred that both
it and the nummulitic limestone are alike independent of each other
and of the cretaceous series.

M. d’Archiae read an extract of a memoir on the fossils of the
nummulitic rocks of the environs of Bayonne and Dax, in which he
refers to the fossils from Biaritz sent to him by Mr. Pratt, and those
from the arrondissement of Dax by M. Delbos. Of the 209 species
determined and obtained from the departments of the Landes and
Basses-Pyrénées, 128 are only yet known as local, 10 are found in
the nummulitic beds of Corbiéres and the Montagne Noire, 12 in
other parts of Europe, 48 in lower tertiary deposits, 22 in the middle
tertiaries, and 4 species in the chalk, 3 oysters among these last being
found in the lower group of the nummulitic rocks which rests directly
on the chalk of the district.

In his researches on the crystallization of the granitic rocks, M.
Durocher refers to the remarks of M. Scheerer on his previous labours
on the same subject, and supposes that a mass containing in combi-
nation silica, alumina, alkaline and earthy bases, potash, soda, some-
times lithia, with a little lime, magnesia, the oxides of iron and
manganese, as also minute quantities of hydrofluoric acid and even of
boracic acid, would separate into quartz, mica and felspar when suffi-
ciently cooled. The solidification taking place according to the re-
lative tendency of the minerals to crystallize, the felspar would
crystallize sooner than the quartz. The solidification of the silica he
considers would not be instantaneous, the substance behaving like the
vitreous bodies, and remaining long in a viscous state. ‘Thus the
crystallization of the granite would not be in the order of fusibility
of the component minerals.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Cl

With respect to granites, M. Durocher considers that in the greater
number of cases the solidification of the different constituent elements
of the rock took place at nearly the same time, but not so with the
porphyries. With respect to the view of water forming an essential
part of granites, he infers that, @ priori, the quantity must be very
small, less than one per cent. By experiment he did not find so
much as five thousand-parts of water in granites, felspathic rocks
and quartziferous porphyries which were not decomposed. The small
quantity of water found in ordinary granites (always excepting those
containing tale or chlorite) appears to him to be due to percolation
subsequent to their original consolidation, while he admits that many
igneous rocks, such as serpentine, diallage rock and others, may have
originally contained water as an essential component part.

During his experiments on the igneous rocks, M. Durocher found
carbonate of lime and dolomite in many, these substances being in-
visible by means of alens. With respect to dolomite, he found :0092
of it in a granite from Stockholm, ‘005 in a protogyne from the Vallée
de PAgly (Pyrénées Orientales), :0043 in a petrosilex from Sala
(Sweden), ‘013 from a euphotide of Savoy, ‘0024 from a basalt of
Saint-Flour (Cantal), and ‘0062 in an olivine lava of Auvergne. From
‘001 to :018 of carbonate of lime, either pure or slightly magnesi-
ferous, was in twenty-five specimens of granitic and other igneous
rocks considered original and not due to infiltration.

M. Pilla, whose loss to science amid the late political events in
Italy we have to deplore, communicated a notice on the red ammoni-
tiferous limestone of Italy. Having noticed the rocks of the districts
of the Lago di Como, of La Spezia and of the mountains of Tuscany,
referring to the previous writings of geologists, he infers that the true
position of the red ammonitiferous limestone is in the Liassic Jura
series, quoting the observations of Von Buch as to the liassic or in-
ferior oolitic character of the contained ammonites as showing the age
of the beds of the Lago di Como, where, from their mode of occur-
rence, they might otherwise be referred to the higher part of the
Jurassic series. At La Spezia and in the mountains of Tuscany the
red ammonitiferous limestone rests immediately on a dolomite and
black limestone, rocks which, by their position and fossils, are con-
sidered identical with the dolomite and brown limestone of the valley
of Esino, lake of Como, which geologists view as forming part of the
lias. The exact equivalent M. Pilla supposes may be the lower part
of the oolitic series.

M. Pomel described a new fossil pachyderm from the basin of the
Gironde, named Elotherium magnum, considered to bear the same
relation to the hippopotamus that the tapirs and rhinoceros do to the
lophiodon and paleotherium.

In a memoir on the nummulitic rocks of the departments of the
Aude and of the Pyrenees, M. Tallavignes proposes to describe these
deposits with reference to the localities named, and not with regard
to general classifications. He finds two formations, distinct both in
their geological and paleontological characters. The first contains
either new or known tertiary fossils, and the beds are commonly
horizontal. To this formation M. Tallavignes assigns the name of

cli PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

Iberian system. The other deposit he names the Alarician system.
Its fauna is stated to present more of a cretaceous than tertiary cha-
racter, and it has no apparent connection with the other system.
Its beds have been disturbed, and in the Aude the strata of the former
system rest unconformably upon them. The nummulitic rocks of
the Central Pyrenees exclusively belong, he infers, to the Alarician
system. The upper or Iberian nummulitic rocks constitute two di-
stinct basins on the north side of the Pyrenees, that of the Aude on
the east, and that of the Basses-Pyrénées on the west.

In a letter to M. Frapolli on the polished and striated rocks of
Denmark, M. Forchhammer, after noticing many facts observed,
calls attention to the action of ice on the present coasts of that coun-
try. He remarks that although the coast ice envelopes the blocks of
rock and pebbles, to enable these to be borne away from the shore
it is necessary that the thaw or rupture of the ice should coincide
with a rise of the waters. In the winter of 1844 the ice sur-
rounded a block of from sixty to eighty cubic feet (about four to five
tons and a half). In the following spring this was carried out to sea,
leaving as it quitted the coast a deep furrow in the sandy clay of the
shore, not quite obliterated six months afterwards.

In the middle of February 1844, a sudden frost covered the Sound
with ice, particularly towards the coast of Seeland, and this ice, driven
by a heavy gale, was dashed on shore. Fears were entertained for
the fishing village at the bottom of Taarbeijk bay. The masses of ice
suddenly rose to the height of sixteen feet, breaking in upon the
houses. The furrows and scratches made by this rush of ice ex-
tended beneath the sea-level. With regard to the transport of blocks
of rock now taking place, M. Forchhammer mentions that in 1844 a
diver in search of the remains of an English cutter which blew up,
at anchor, during the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, found
part of this vessel entire, but covered by blocks, some of which may
have measured six to eight cubic feet. The same diver affirmed that
all the wrecks he had visited in the roadstead were more or less covered
by blocks. These blocks M. Forchhammer considers to be brought
by the masses of ice borne out from the Baltic by the current setting
through the Kattegat in the spring.

In a geological description of the northern part of the empire of
Morocco, Dr. Coquard, after remarking on the physical aspect of the
country, notices the occurrence of transition rocks (terrain de trans-
ition), which he separates into four divisions. The first, or the lowest,
is formed of crystalline slates, in which various modifications are ob-
served, from gneiss to argillaceous slate; the second composed of
black grauwacke, quartzose conglomerates and grey quartz rocks ;
the third of satiny slates, thick beds of limestone and calcareous
slates, containing orthoceree, orthides, encrinites and trilobites; and
the fourth of sandstones and conglomerates. The second of these
divisions is referred to the Lower Silurian, and the third to the Upper
Silurian series, while the fourth is considered equivalent to the De-
vonian series, fossils bemg, however, absent in it. The thickness of
these deposits is estimated at 2850 feet. These accumulations are suc-
ceeded by a vast assemblage of limestones and dolomites, referred to

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. cll

the Jurassic series, resting unconformably on the rocks beneath. Above
the Jurassic the cretaceous series reposes. It is divided by Dr. Co-
quard into three parts: a. a limestone with Chama ammonia ; 6. num-
mulitic limestone (these being conformable to each other); and ec.
fucoid sandstone, unconformable. The first he refers to the Neoco-
mian rocks, the second to the greensand, and the third to the upper
chalk. The tertiary rocks are considered to be represented by a
freshwater and by a marine deposit, both miocene and conformable
to each other, and by an argillaceous and horizontal formation. To
these succeed modern travertines, osseous breccias, bog iron, and
dunes. There is much detail given in the memoir: the direction of
the lines of elevation is noticed in accordance with the views of M.
Elie de Beaumont, and the paper is accompanied by several sections.

In a letter from Boston (7th Nov. 1847), M. Desor gave an ac-
count of his discovery of fragments of Venus mercenaria in the drift
of Brooklyn, near New York, and stated that in consequence much
search had been made by Mr. Redfield, whose labours had been re-
warded by fine collections of shells from the drift around New York,
consisting of Venus mercenaria, Ostrea canadensis, Nassa trivittata,
Mya arenaria, Purpura floridana, &c., all molluscs now found living
on the coasts near that city, with the exception of one species, the
living representatives of which are found more southward, on the
coast of Carolina. Details are given respecting the drift of North
America, and of the heights at which it is found. Pleistocene clay
is also noticed. M. Desor observes that the shells obtained from the
clay of the different localities are of littoral species, and hence, to ac-
count for the different levels at which they occur, he considers it not
improbable that during the emergence of the land above the sea, there
was time sufficient for these species to multiply and form beds at
different altitudes above the present ocean level. Mention is made
of the probable distribution of land and water in later geological
times in North America, and of its consequences.

M. d’Archiac gave a summary of the observations made on the
quaternary or diluvial rocks, which he defined to consist of accumu-
lations effected between the close of the Subapennine deposits and
the commencement of the modern period. It may, he observes, be
considered, that no one cause yet assigned for these accumulations is
of itself sufficient for the effects observed, while many of them have
concurred either simultaneously or successively, in different degrees
and under different circumstances, to produce the results seen. M.
d’ Archiac refers to the first part of the second volume of his Histoire
des Progrés de la Géologie for the proofs of his opinions.

M. Frapolli, in a summary of the first part of a work on the
Terrains meubles of Europe (subhercynian type), observes, after
remarking on the varied production of detrital rocks, that the accu-
mulation of boulders and blocks, gravels, sands and clays, commonly
termed ferrains meubles, is not, as a whole, single and posterior to
deposits in beds, as has been sometimes supposed, but that there
have been similar accumulations during all geological periods, formed
on the land as well as inthe sea. Taking the view of sudden marked

cly PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

elevations of land at distinct times, sueceeded by periods of repose,
he considers that there would result from the sudden action various
irregular deposits due to geological currents thus produced, some of
these deposits having never been subsequently submerged, while others
have been so during one or more geological periods ; and that during
the succeeding periods of tranquillity there would be formed a variety
of irregular deposits, marine, fluvio-marine, and terrestrial, such as
beaches, banks and bars, deltas, alluvions of rivers and torrents,
glacial accumulations, the sand-hills of coasts and deserts, the fallen
fragments from mountains and inland cliffs, &e.

M. Frapolli then describes the subhercynian rocks of this class,
dividing them into the accumulations of four different and successive
epochs. The first he refers to a great elevation subsequent to the
deposit of the cretaceous series, and which he supposes may coincide
with that preceding the deposit of the eocene rocks. To the denu-
dation and debacle attending this elevation he attributes the dispersion
of the angular blocks of quartz rock in the district. The second is
thought due to an elevation corresponding with that by which the
western Alps were thrown up, and from it resulted deposits of which
pebbles from the Hartz form a large portion. Durimg the period
following this elevation, the Hartz is inferred to have remained above
water, deposits from terrestrial and marie causes, acting upon the
land, bemg then effected, and the climate differing little from its
present state. The next is referred to the Arctic epoch. A rupture
on the north-west of Europe is inferred, followed by the dispersion of
the third of these accumulations. The subhercynian district was
then, it is supposed, invaded by detritus from the north, this detritus
thrown especially upon the northern and north-western flanks of the
hills, and coverimg previous deposits. Durmg the period which
followed, an arctic climate is considered to have prevailed, and the
lehm of the district to have been accumulated. A fourth dispersion
is supposed to have then been effected by a movement which pro-
duced the final emergence of the subhercynian district. The
period following this is the present or modern, in which the accumu-
lations of the class noticed have been effected and are now taking

lace.
is In acommunication on the environs of Chamonix, Savoy, M. Favre
remarks that the pot-stone (pierre ollaire) and the granite veins
occur in bands parallel to the contact of the crystalline slates and
protogyne, and that along the whole of the line, on the north-west
flank of the chain of Mont Blanc, the same phenomena are presented,
and in the same manner. He affirms that on this flank there are
several parallel bands of serpentine and potstone. With respect to
the Vallorsine conglomerate, he observes, that with associated sand-
stones and slates it constitutes the anthraxiferous formation of the
Alps, by which term he does not mean to refer it to any particular
geological age, but simply to state that in this group the Alpine
anthracite is found. M. Favre says, that while in the district noticed
this group occurs beneath the belemnitic limestone, it nevertheless
passes into it geologically, at the junction of the deposits, by alter-

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. CV

nation of beds. He gives some very interesting details respecting the
structure of localities, some rarely, others never previously visited by
geological observers,—details which require to be studied in the
memoir itself and with the aid of amap. An outlying portion of
the anthraxiferous rocks, a part of a great curved mass once con-
necting these rocks in the Buet with those in the valley of Chamonix,
was found upon the Aiguilles Rouges, there resting unconformably
and horizontally upon vertical beds of crystalline rocks. A section
of this curve, one very interesting as regards the movements of the
Alps, and the mode of accumulation of certam of the deposits in
them, is given.

Dr. Boué read a note on the existence in the northern hemisphere
of isothermal curves, such as they now are, at a period at least as
remote as the close of the Jurassic series. In this communication he
noticed the observations connected with the distribution of the erratic
blocks in Europe and America, showing that they reached more
southerly latitudes in the latter than the former; that identical fos-
sils of the ancient alluvions and the tertiary deposits of the two con-
tinents bear out the same view; and that the same also happens
with the cretaceous series. Dr. Boué observes that the northern
limit of the nummulitic rocks, extending from Europe, by the Hi-
malaya, into China, describes a curve according with the present
isothermal lines ; thus, he remarks, if the whole earth once possessed
a higher temperature than at present, the same relation of climate
existed in the regions noticed as at present, at least back to the com-
mencement of the cretaceous series.

Upon communicating a notice of the fossils of the German zech-
stem by M. Geinitz, M. de Verneuil adverted to the labours of Sir
Roderick Murchison, Count Keyserling and himself on the Permian
system, as established in Russia, and remarked that several of the
species of shells discovered by them in that country had been noticed
for the first time in the German zechstein, such as Murchisonia sub-
angulata, Solemya Biarmica, Modiola Pallasi, Arca Kingiana,
Avicula Kazanensis, Terebratula Geinitziana, T. superstes, Pro-
ductus Leplayi, and P. Cancrini.

Notice is taken of the Orthotrix of M. Geinitz, which the author
considers should be separated from Productus, and which M. de Ver-
neuil refers (in part at least) to the Stropholosia of Mr. King, who
also observed sufficient differences in the so-called Producti of themag-
nesian limestone of England to lead him to this view. M. de Verneuil
considers that the Orthotrix Goldfussi and O. excavatus of M. Geinitz
are the Stropholosia Morrisiana and S. Sedgwicki of Mr. King.

M. de Verneuil also read a communication by Prof. Naumann of
Leipsic on the deposits of Oschatz, which he assigns to the Permian
series, to the same effect as that brought before our Society, and
previously noticed, and at the same time adverted to the labours of
Sir Roderick Murchison in Thuringia, Saxony and Silesia in the
establishment of the Permian system.

Relating to this subject M. Delahaye communicated a note on the
schists of Muse and Buxiére-la-Grue, which form, he considers, a

evi PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

new subdivision of the Permian series. After quoting the Abbé
Landriot, as believing them to constitute a passage from the zechstein
into the coal-measures, M. Delahaye remarks, that in the basin of
Autun the upper beds of the schists contain an abundance of Psa-
rolithes identical with those of the new red sandstone (grés rouge),
and that in parts of the basin, at Ygornay, at Chambois, and other
places, and reposing conformably on the schists, there 1s a grey rock
sometimes containing bituminous veins, at others presenting a dirty
olive-coloured aspect from a more general dissemination of bituminous °
matter, offering the normal characters of zechstein, and upon analysis
affording the carbonates of lime and magnesia. He also calls atten-
tion to the opinion of M. Agassiz, that the fish-scales found in all the
upper beds of the basin of Autun and the fossil fish of the lower
parts of the schists of Muse bear the greatest resemblance to the re-
mains of Paleeoniscus discovered by M. von Dechen in the limestones
subordinate to the new red sandstone (grés rouge) of Bohemia. M.
Delahaye refers the fish-scales above noticed to the Palzoniscus
magnus, thought by M. Agassiz to be exclusively contained in the
zechstein of Mansfeld. A general view is taken of the fossil plants
found in the environs of Autun.

At a subsequent meeting of the Society, while MM. Virlet and
Boubée supported the view that the bituminous schist of Autun was
independent of the coal-measures, M. Elie de Beaumont combated
this opinion, stating that analogous bitumimous schists were found in
many other of the coal basins of France and foreign countries.

Mr. Davidson communicated a detailed memoir on the Brachiopods
of the Upper Silurian system of England, the result of his labours in
the districts where these rocks are found and among local collections.
He considers it as now recognized that many species have lived
through the times of deposit of several stages of the Silurian system,
and have been even perpetuated beyond it. He is also of opinion
that the divisions proposed by Sir Roderick Murchison are charac-
terized by certain species more abundant in or proper to them, so
that these divisions may be usefully preserved, without at the same
time attaching more importance to them than is their due.

Respecting generic divisions, Mr. Davidson observes as probable,
that as we advance and dacunes are filled up, distinctions will become
more and more arbitrary. ‘Thus,’ he continues, “ confining our-
selves to the Brachiopods, do we not daily find the great differences
disappearing which once served to characterise the genera Productus,
Chonetes, Orthis, Leptena, Spirifer, Terebratula, &c.? Do we not
find these genera more and more approximating to each other by a
multitude of intermediary species, some possessing the external forms
of one genus with certain internal characters of another, so that
there is much difficulty in assigning them their true place? We may
cite as examples the Orthis biloba and the Orthis biforata or lynz,
which possess the internal characters of an Orthis and the external
forms of a Spirifer. The genus Aulosteges of M. Helmersen comes
between the Productus and the Orthis.” After observing that a
great number of examples might be adduced of the little value to be

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. evil

attached to the distinction of certain genera, he admits the necessity
of forming generic divisions, founded on an assemblage of well-observed
characters, often taken from imternal structure, in order to classify
the multitude of species presented by nature.

Mr. Davidson refers to the new classification of brachiopods by M.
ad Orbigny*, and to an examination of his Silurian brachiopods with
him. Mr. Davidson provisionally arranges the brachiopods of the
Upper Silurian series and described by him under the genera Produc-
tus, Chonetes, Leptena, Orthis, Spirifer, Terebratula, Pentamerus,
Lingula, Crania, and Orbicula. He notices 78 species, and figures
48 of them, and a table is given of the 78 species, the names being
those adopted by M. de Verneuil and himself. The synonyms are
appended, and reference, in connexion with them, is made to the
genera adopted by M. d’Orbigny. The particular stages of the Si-
lurian system and the localities are mentioned, and other places where
the species are found, either in Europe or America, are added.

M. de Verneuil communicated a note on some brachiopods of the
Isle of Gothland, in which he refers to the labours of Mr. Davidson
on the brachiopods of England and to the work of M. Barrande on
those of Bohemia, and describes, with figures, seven new species of
brachiopods under the names of Leptena Loveni, L. enigma, Orthis
Davidsoni, O. punctata, Spirifer Marklini, Sp. Barrandi, and Tere-
bratula bicarinata, adding the Orthis biloba of Linneus. A list is
given of the brachiopods of the Upper Silurian system of the Isle of
Gothland. In this are enumerated seventeen species of Terebratula,
two of Pentamerus, eleven of Spirifer, nine of Orthis, nine of Lep-
tena, and one of Chonetes.

M. de Verneuil also read a note on certain species of Leptena,
having a perforated beak, noticing Leptena alternata (Conrad, De
Verneuil and Keyserling), LZ. planoconvexa (Hall), L. suleata (De
Vern.), L. Lovent (De Vern.), L. antiquata and scabrosa (Davidson),
L. analoga and depressa (on the authority of Dr. King and Mr. Da-
vidson), L. tenuistriata (Sowerby), and L. planumbona (Hall).

M. Fauverge communicated observations on the opinion of Dr. Boué
respecting the coincidence of the isothermal lines of previous geologi-
cal times with the present, remarking, as regards the coal-measures,
on identical species of the plants found fossil in them being discovered
under very different latitudes, and referring to central heat as the
cause, at that period, of the surface-temperature of the globe. We
may remark on this subject (one on which we have elsewhere entered),
that as exact geological investigations progress, with reference to the
varied distribution of land and water, and all the conditions of relief
of the land and form of the sea-bottom, we may anticipate very im-
portant information as to the distribution of temperature over our
planet’s surface at different geological times. A better insight will
also be obtained into the value which has to be attributed to the in-
ternal heat of the earth, up to the period when, from the loss of heat
by radiation into planetary space having been sufficiently advanced,

* Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences, tom. xxv.

cvili PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

the earth’s surface-temperature became materially influenced by the
sun.

In a letter to M. Elie de Beaumont, Professor Angelo Sismonda
mentions, that in a descent from the Col des Encombres, towards the
Tarentaise, he had found numerous fossils in the schistose black
limestone of that locality. He considers this limestone as a little
above the schists of Petit-Ccoeur (remarkable for the mixture of or-
ganic remains in them, as above noticed). The fossils found are
considered by M. Sismonda to prove the correctness of the opinion
given by M. Elie de Beaumont, that the belemnite beds of the Ta-
rentaise are referable to the lias*. j

M. Talavignes, referring to the memoir of M. Elie de Beaumont
on the most ancient systems of Kuropean mountains, and to the recent
classification of the nummulitic rocks in the eocene series, considers
that he was the first to show that the received opinion as to the date
of the elevation of the Pyrenees should be modified, there being two
distinct deposits of nummulitic rocks (as above noticed), one named
by him the Iberian system, the other the Alarician system. In reply,
M. Elie de Beaumont saw no objection to the nummulitic rocks of
the Mediterranean being viewed as eocene. He considered that the
fossil molluscs of the Mediterranean nummulitic limestone are divi-
sible into three groups, of which the first only is found in the num-
mulitic limestone of Soissons (above the plastic clay, and forming the
base of the calcaire grossier of the Paris basin), while the second is
confined to the Mediterranean deposit, and the third, composed of at
least fifteen or twenty species, is found in the cretaceous rocks, pro-
perly so called.

In addition to these communications there were notices and papers
on floating ice, by M. Desor ; on the snows of the Vosges, by M. Ed.
Collomb ; on new analyses of Predazzite and the products resulting
from its decomposition, by M. Damour; on an estimate of certain
emanations caused by natural and artificial heat, by M. H. Daubrée ;
on the occurrence of stratified diallage rock (gabdro) between serpen-
tine and granite, resting on the latter, in the mountains of the Zobten,
Silesia, by M. Gustave Rose ; on the mountain of Cetona, by M. Ezio
de’ Vecchi, in which the red ammonitiferous limestone is mentioned,
and the author agrees in its geological position with M. Pilla; on the
lacustrine formation of La Bresse, by Dr. J. Canat; on the geological
structure of the low part of Guadaloupe, named Grande-Terre, by Dr.
Pierre Duchassaing ; on the stratified rocks of the Venetian Alps, by
M. de Zigno ; on the folding of the tertiary rocks in the valley of the
Dronne, and on the beds traversed by the railway between Libourne
and Angouléme, by M. d’Archiac. There were also communications
on the causes which appear to influence the growth of certain plants

* Part of these fossils were determined by M. Bayle, at the Ecole des Mines at
Paris. Those added to the others noticed are, Ammonites fimbriatus (Sow.), 4
amaltheus (Schlot,), 4. planicostatus (Sow.), 4. radians (Schlot.), Pholadomya
liasina (Sow.), Avicula inequivalvis (Sow. ), 4. costata (Sow.), Lima decorata
(Munster), Cardinia concinna (Agassiz), Terebratula inequivalvis (Sow.), 7. va-
riabilis (Sow.), Arca, Pecten, and Belemnites (abundant).

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. C1x

under known conditions, by M. Charles Desmoulins ; on the transport
of certain erratic blocks of Scandinavia and North America by floating
ice, considered as a consequence of the ancient extension of glaciers
and the changed level of those countries, by M. Ch. Martins; on the
fossils in certain flints found in the Perigord, by M. Ch. Desmoulins ;
on the ancient glacier of Wesserling, by M. Ed. Collomb. Also papers
by M. Blanche on part of the Lebanon ; on the Dole (Jura), by MM.
Lory and Pidancet ; on an artesian well, sunk 433 feet, at Venice,
with an interesting and detailed section, by M. de Challaye ; on Elba,
by M. de Collegno ; on the Jurassic rocks of the southern part of the
basin of the Rhone, by M. Victor Thiolliére ; on the geological struc-
ture of the Isthmus of Panama, by Mr. Evan Hopkins; on human
fossils found in the voleanic mountain of Denize, the mammiferous
remains noticed in the different deposits of the Haute-Loire, and the
probable age of their entombment, by M. Aymard; on the different
species of the Mastodonts of the Velay, by M. Aymard; on the an-
cient glaciers of the Jura, by M. Favre; on the more recent geolo-
gical memoirs read before the Friends of Natural Science of Vienna,
by M. Boué,—a condensed and valuable notice. There were memoirs
and notices on dépéts blocailleux (a name given to deposits containing
a more or less large quantity of angular fragments), by M. Omalius
d’Halloy ; on the ridging of the earth’s surface, on the nature of un-
consolidated accumulations, and on the theory of floating ice, by M.
Frapolli; on Tantaliferous Wolfram of the Haute-Vienne, by M. Da-
mour; on facts and considerations in aid of a classification of the
nummulitic rocks, by M. Victor Raulin; on the Magas pumilus, by
Mr. Davidson and M. Bouchard-Chantereaux. These communica-
tions were followed by papers or notices, on the depression of Northern
Africa beneath the level of the sea, by M. Angelot; on the siliceous
incrustation of the Geysers, and on different natural hydrates of silica,
by M. Damour; on the upper tertiary deposit of Sundgau (Upper
Rhine), and on the transformation of the felspathic pebbles of this
deposit into kaolin, by M. Daubrée; on the mines of the environs of
Bone and Philippeville (Algeria), by M. Paul Benoist. To these
succeed a reply to MM. Martins and Desor respecting the theory of
floating ice, and analysis of a MS. notice of M. Paul Weibye of Kra-
geroe on that of waves, with a notice of the recent observations of
M. Forchhammer on the polished and striated surfaces of Denmark,
by M. Frapolli; and remarks on this reply by M. Ch. Martins.

M. Ed. Collomb gave an account of fossil plants found in Devonian
or Silurian rocks near Wesseiling ; and there were papers on dolomi-
tization by De Morlot ; on a geological survey of the basin of LaComté,
by M. Leprieur; on the classification of the ungulated mammifers,
by M. Pomel; on a temporary glacier (January and February 1848)
in the Vosges, by M. Ed. Collomb; on agricultural geology, more
especially of a domain near Nancy, by M. Nérée Boubée; on the
fossil bones of the environs of Alais, by M. d’ Hombres-Firmas ; on
the nature of the rocks of the domain of Gastilitza, near St. Peters-
burg, and on the fossils found in them, by Prince Emmanuel Ga-
litzin; on the deposits between the white chalk and the calcaire

CX PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

grossier of the Paris basin, by M. E. Hébert ; on the Fahluns of the
south-west of France, by M. Delbos; on the freshwater Physa lime-
stone of Montolieu (Department of the Aude), by M. Victor Raulin.
There were also rectifications of his classification of the nummulitic
rocks by M. Victor Raulin, and a paper on a classification of the
tertiary rocks of Aquitain by the same author.

Connected with the publications of the Geological Society of France,
M. d’Archiac has produced the second volume of his ‘History of the
Progress of Geology,’ one, like the first, replete with valuable matter.
It treats of the deposits known as quaternary or diluvial. Itself a
condensation of a mass of information, illustrated by concise original
remarks, it would be impossible to afford you a just idea of its con-
tents in the brief notice which this address will permit. It may,
however, be desirable to mention, that in this second volume M. d’ Ar-
chiac gives an account of the raised beaches and superficial deposits,
with fossil marine remains, and of the erratic blocks of the north of
Europe and of the British Islands, of the effects due to glacial action
in these islands, of their bone-caves and osseous breccias, and of their
palzeontology of this date. The quaternary deposits of Holland,
Belgium and of France are mentioned in detail, the latter under the
heads of basin of the Seine, chain of the Vosges and the valleys de-
scending from it, basin of the Rhine, basin of the Loire and central
plateau of France, north flank of the Pyrenees, basin of the Rhone,
and osseous breccia and bone-caves. ‘The quaternary deposits of the
Alps follow, first considering those of the plains and valleys around
the Alps, and then those amid the mountains themselves. The ac-
cumulations of this date are then treated of as regards Southern
Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Asia, including under
the latter head those of the Ural, of Siberia, and of the north flank
of the Altai. Then follow the accumulations of Western Asia and
of Southern Asia. M. d’Archiac afterwards proceeds with the qua-
ternary deposits of Africa and of North America, first treating, as re-
spects the latter, of the marine and lacustrine deposits of the southern
of the United States, then of those in the Northern States, and after-
wards of the erratic blocks of North America. He next describes the
deposits supposed to be of this age in Southern and Central America
(including the West Indian Islands with a description of the Pampas
and of the raised beaches of the western coast), and in Australia. M.
d’Archiac concludes with a general summary, read also before the
Geological Society of France, and with theoretical considerations re-
specting the former extension of glaciers.

GEOLOGICAL NOTICES.

This address has so far extended beyond the limits originally con-
templated, and which may indeed be considered desirable, that we
would venture to trespass little further upon your indulgence. At
the same time it becomes matter of congratulation, as regards the
still increasing cultivation of our science, that even a sketch of the
progress of this Society, and mention of papers read before other
geological societies of our land, with notices of those communicated

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. cxl

to the Geological Society of France, and a statement of the advance
of our Geological Survey, could so long have occupied our attention.
The political events of the past year have, no doubt, interrupted geo-
logical investigations in many parts of Europe, yet even under this
disadvantage it is gratifying to find how much has been accomplished
in European geology, while steady advances have been made in our
knowledge of America, especially of its northern portions, and of
various other parts of the world.

We cannot omit to call your attention to the publication, during
the year, of a second volume of the ‘ Explication de la Carte Géolo-
gique de la France,’ by MM. Dufrénoy and Elie de Beaumont *; an
important work, more especially as regards a right knowledge of the
geological structure of France. It is remarked in the introduction
to this volume that the study of the relations existing between the
topography and the nature of the rocks had induced the authors to
give detailed descriptions of the successive zones forming the outcrop
of the different divisions of the Trias and the Jurassic limestone.
They therefore have made known the regular course of these divi-
sions in the basin of the north of France by examples taken at short
distances from each other, and they have adopted the same method
for the south of France in order to show the differences presented by
the same deposits either in their lithological characters or in the na-
ture of the fossils disseminated among them. These details also
enabled them to render full justice to the labours which have either
preceded or followed the publication of the geological map of France.
The work is accompanied by 105 illustrative diagrams, and, in addi-
tion to the scientific detail, notices are given of the useful mineral
substances found in, or forming part of, the rocks described. It is
announced that the third volume will contain an account of the re-
mainder of the sedimentary rocks which have been only slightly dis-
turbed since their deposit, and that there will be a volume dedicated
to the description and figures of shells characteristic of the different
fossiliferous deposits of France.

The trias, consisting of the grés bigarré, the muschelkalk, and the
marnes irisées, is described as occurring (1) around the Vosges, parti-
cularly on the plains of the ancient Lorraine; (2) on the flanks of
the mountains of the Charollais, in the departments of the Céte d’Or,
of the Sadne and Loire, and of the Rhone; (3) on the northern foot
of the mountains of Central France, in the departments of the Niévre,
of the Allier, of the Cher, and of the Indre; (4) on the slope of the
hills of the Bocage, in the departments of Calvados and La Manche ;
(5) on the southern side of the central mass of France, in the depart-
ments of the Lot, the Aveyron, the Tarn and Garonne, the Tarn, and
the Hérault ; and (6) on the flanks of the Montagnes des Maures, in
the department of the Var. Some other localities in disturbed di-
stricts, such as the Pyrenees and Jura, are to be separately noticed.

A small map is given, showing the outcrop-course of the Jurassic
rocks, the divisions of which,.it is remarked, present the great ad-
vantage of bemg nearly continuously traceable from one end to the

* A thick quarto volume contgining 813 pages.

cxli PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

other of France. The divisions noticed are the lias, the inferior oolite,
the middle oolite and the upper oolite ; and it is mentioned that the
beds are so similar both in the south and north of France, that speci-
mens collected between the Sables-d’Olonne and Rochefort, on the
borders of the Ocean, are exactly analogous with those of the same
series of deposits on the shores of the Channel between Caen and
Honfleur. The base of the Jurassic series is mentioned as marked by
sands and other accumulations showing an absence of repose, such as
the gravels and sands (diluvium) at the base of the Jurassic series in
the environs of Moutiers, near Bayeux, and the quartzose sandstones,
rich in altered felspar, to which the name arkose has been assigned.
From their position they have been termed in the geological map of
France the infraliassic sandstones. 'They are, however, sometimes
associated with the inferior oolite, and perhaps even with the middle
oolite. In each case they contain fossils analogous to those of the
limestones which repose upon them, thus determining their age.
These sandstones are remarkable for containing crystalline minerals,
which are not commonly found in the calcareous beds. Sulphate of
baryta is abundant, and even sometimes, as in the environs of Alen-
con, the shells of fossils are replaced by it in acrystallineform. The
sandstone of the lias in many places contains galena, blende, and oxide
of manganese.

It is announced that the government geological survey of Belgium
is completed. And respecting maps we would wish to call your atten-
tion to the paleeontological map of the British Islands by Professor
Edward Forbes (published during the year as part of the Physical
Atlas by Johnston and Berghaus) as embodying a large amount of
valuable information. With respect to the progress of palzeontology,
we should also call your attention to that important work, ‘The Pa-
leeontology of New York,’ by Mr. James Hall, containing descriptions
of the organic remains of the lower division of the New York system,
considered equivalent to the Lower Silurian rocks of Europe. This
work contains descriptions, with numerous figures, of 95 genera and
381 species; 14 species being classed as Plante, 4 as uncertain, 50
as Zoophyta, 15 as Crinoidea, 77 as Brachiopoda, 49 as Acephala,
71 as Gasteropoda, 68 as Cephalopoda, and 33 as Crustacea.

Under the same branch of our science, Bronn’s ‘ Index Palzeonto-
logicus’ should be mentioned as extremely valuable, as also Geinitz
and Gutbier’s work on the fossils of the Saxon Permian, Richter’s
Paleontology of Thuringia, Searles Wood on the Univalves of the
Crag (one of the publications of the Paleeontographical Society), an
important work. In the ‘ Annals of Natural History’ will be found
papers by Schomburgk on Barbadoes fossils (found in beds referred
to the miocene deposits) ; M‘Coy on carboniferous and old red sand-
stone fishes, on mesozoic radiata, and on palzeozoic corals; Lycett’s
further observations on the conchology of the oolitic rocks, and
Toulmin Smith on the Ventriculide ; observations on some Belem-
nites and other fossil remains of Cephalopoda from the Oxford cla
near Trowbridge, Wiltshire, in which Dr. Mantell concludes that the
true character of the animal of the Belemnite remains to be ascer-

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Cxiil

tained, and that the Belemnoteuthis is generically distinct from the
Belemnite, the opinion formerly given by Mr. Chaning Pearce and
Mr. Cunnington.

We should not forget the second part of the papers of the Friends
of Natural History in Vienna, collected and published by the inde-
fatigable Haidinger, who, notwithstanding the political events of the
last year, has been enabled to produce this volume, containing in
connection with geology the following papers :—Reuss on the Fossil
Polypiaria of the Vienna Tertiary Basin, accompanied by eleven
plates; Czjzek on the Fossil Foraminifera of the Vienna Basin ;
Barrande on the Brachiopoda of the Silurian Rocks of Bohemia (the
continuation of his former), with nine plates ; Morlot on the Geology
of Istria, with a geological map; and Reissacher on the Auriferous
District of the Salzburg Central Alps.

The cause of the production of dolomite having of late been matter
of much attention, perhaps it may not be out of place, before we
conclude, to notice a few circumstances connected with this subject.
From the time, now many years since, when our veteran and distin-
guished colleague, Von Buch, first advanced his views on the pro-
duction of certain dolomites, there has been much difference of opinion
as to the mode in which this compound of the carbonates of lime and
magnesia could have been formed. Facts have been adduced to show
that the dolomitic beds, commonly known as the magnesian lime-
stones, ranging amid the new red sandstone series of parts of England,
and considered equivalent to part of the Permian system of Sir Rode-
rick Murchison, had been deposited from water, in the same manner
as many limestones, and that the same had been the case with many
dolomitic beds occurring in different parts of Great Britain and Ireland
amid the more common calcareous accumulations of the carboniferous
or mountain limestone. Other facts have been brought forward to
sustain the opinion that many dolomitic masses, often of considerable
volume, were not in the condition of the first formation of such
masses, but were limestones changed by circumstances which had
added the carbonate of magnesia, so that the resulting product was a
dolomite. Like many questions involving the union of particles of
matter constituting certain mineral bodies, we should carefully weigh
the evidence adduced, so as to be sure we do not attribute to a single
mode of production those things which may have resulted from two.
The study of the manner in which minerals occur has shown us that
some of the same kinds have been formed from the solution in water
of the elementary body or bodies of which they are composed, and
also amid masses which have evidently been in a state of igneous
fusion. Take, for example, common rock crystals or quartz,—little
doubt can exist that their component particles of silica have been
gathered together as crystals in fissures and other cavities from liquid
solutions, and we find as well-formed crystals of the same mineral in
some porphyries, the igneous origin of which can scarcely be called
in question, the particles in both cases having been under such con-
ditions that they could approximate, and, under the influences pro-
ducing crystallization, be arranged in a definite manner. The same

VOL. V.— PART I.

CXx1v PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

with certain other minerals, such as some belonging to the felspar
family and sulphuret of iron.

In the progress of the Geological Survey during the past year in
Ireland, we had an opportunity of seeing a beautiful arrangement of
dolomite crystals in ordimary limestone on the south of Carlow, near
Bagenalstown. In that part of Ireland there is a dolomitic series of
beds amid the accumulations of the carboniferous or mountain lime-
stone, having a considerable range. In the higher parts where this
series is surmounted by certain dark and black shales, the beds, which
may, for convenience, be termed those of passage, show the cessation
of the conditions under which the crystals of dolomite were so de-
posited as to form the whole or nearly the whole of the strata.
There were alternations of circumstances, and little sheets of crystals
of the carbonates of lime and magnesia, often of slight depth, alternate
with the common dark carbonaceous limestone, the light colour of
the one, in sections, strongly contrasting with the dark colour of the
other. We here seem to have had times when these crystals of the
carbonates of lime and magnesia were strewed over the bottom, at
first so little mingled with other matter as to constitute whole beds,
and then so mixed, as conditions changed, that they were only
strewed about in patches, their production finally ceasing altogether.

Many other facts, as you are aware, upon the great scale, could be
adduced to support the view that, at least, some of the dolomitic rocks
have been the result of deposit from water, as indeed we might ex-
pect, and we would here recall to your attention that numerous lime-
stones contain carbonate of magnesia, besides the rocks properly
termed dolomites, and often far more abundantly than would be
supposed. We should also not feel surprised that when a deposit
was effecting from solution in water, and the carbonates of lime and
magnesia were being thrown down in certain definite proportions (and
the proportions those of bitter spar or dolomite), that crystals were
the result (supposing the needful time for the definite arrangement of
the component particles), their arrangement in beds or thin lamine,
intermingled with ordinary limestone, being dependent on circum-
stances.

Satisfied-as we may happen tobe, however, with such a view as afford-
ing an explanation of the mode of occurrence of dolomitic rocks in
certain districts, it by no means follows that it will suffice for all do-
lomites wherever found. Other views have been taken and ably sup-
ported. You are familiar with the opinions and facts adduced by
Von Buch, respecting the occurrence of dolomite in certain districts,
as also with the writings of others entertainmg the same views.
During the past year some highly interesting experiments have been
made by M. de Morlot, the results of which are considered by him
to support the metamorphic character of dolomites, more particularly
in the manner advocated by M. Haidinger.

A notice of these experiments and conclusions is contained ma
letter of M. de Morlot to M. Ele de Beaumont, in which he refers
to the calculations of this distinguished geologist* respecting the

* Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, 1837, pp. 174-177.

ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. CXV

volume which a cube metre of limestone would occupy if converted into
dolomite, by the substitution of one atom of carbonate of magnesia
for one atom of carbonate of lime in each double atom of carbonate
of lime, which show that hollows or pores would result equal to 12
per cent. of the total volume of the rock, explaming the cavernous
structure of many dolomites. M. de Morlot, desirous of ascertaining
how far the theoretical view of M. de Beaumont was borne out by
fact, carefully chose a piece of the dolomite of the Prédiel, believed
to represent its mean cavernous state, and with many precautions,
ascertained the relation of the pores or hollows to the volume of the
rock. This he found to be 12-9 per ceunt., a remarkable coincidence
he infers, all the circumstances being taken into consideration, and a
result confirming the views of M. Eliede Beaumont. M. de Morlot
however regards the metamorphic character of dolomite, with M. Elie
de Beaumont, as placed beyond doubt by the fact, that part of the
Silurian corals of Gerolstein were formed of crystallized dolomite,
and are cavernous, without having lost their organic form. He also
notices, and gives a figure of, a coral from the Seisser Alp, from the
structure of which he infers that there has been metamorphic action,
and that the atom of lime thus displaced has been removed.

The frequent association of dolomite with gypsum in many places,
and a careful examination of specimens collected near Vienna, induced
Haidinger to suspect that the magnesia had been introduced in the
form of a sulphate, and that this salt, so commonly existing in nature,
had so reacted upon the limestone to which it was conveyed in so-
lution in water, that the double carbonate of lime and magnesia, and
gypsum were the results. A solution of sulphate of lime was, how-
ever, known, if filtrated sufficiently long through pulverized dolomite,
to transform the latter into carbonate of lime, sulphate of magnesia
being formed. From reasoning upon some circumstances observed,
im connexion with this subject, Haidinger concluded, that though at
a low temperature and solely under ordinary atmospheric pressure,
a solution of sulphate of magnesia decomposes dolomite, under a
high pressure and heat the reverse would take place. Estimating
the increase of temperature from the surface of the earth downwards,
and the probable pressure beneath a certain amount of mineral accu-
mulations, M. Haidinger inferred, that at a temperature of 200°
Centigrade, and under a pressure equal to 15 atmospheres, this would
happen. The experiment was made; a mixture in atomic proportion
of sulphate of magnesia and carbonate of lime was subjected, in a tube
of glass, hermetically closed at both ends, and exposed in a modifi-
cation of Sir James Hall’s gun-barrel apparatus, to the pressure and
heat calculated. The experiment was perfectly successful ; there was
complete double decomposition, and the formation of the double car-
bonate of lime and magnesia and of sulphate of lime was the result.
Although, to make this experiment applicable to the occurrence of
mixed masses of dolomite and gypsum in nature, we have to suppose
like conditions on the great scale, and a very large proportion of that
soluble salt, sulphate of magnesia, intermingled with carbonate of
lime, it is one of considerable value, as showing what would happen

CXV1 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

under a given heat and certain pressure ; the latter very moderate, even
80 fathoms of water giving it, and therefore a very slight thick-
ness of rock. The new arrangements of the particles of mineral matter
from heat and pressure, under conditions for the free motion of at
least a portion of the component parts of rocks, and the development
of the forces governing the arrangement of the particles when free,
are daily gaining increased attention. It is no doubt an investigation
requiring extreme care and caution, but it is one from the skilful
pursuit of which the geologist may expect a considerable increase of
knowledge. While, however, we by no means neglect the changes
and modifications mineral masses may suffer from such agencies, let
us not forget the causes of difference in original accumulations, and
those other changes and modifications which the simple infiltration of
new substances in solution among the particles of rocks and the re-
moval of others may effect durmg the lapse of time, not neglecting
the relative position of mimeral masses at different periods, a consi-
deration of great geological importance.

My duties as your President now terminate. I should, however,
be unworthy of the uniform kindness and effective co-operation ex-
perienced from you throughout the two years during which you
have honoured me with your confidence, were I to retire without
expressing, in all sincerity, my most unfeigned thanks for that as-
sistance in the performance of my duties without which your Presi-
dent could but ill discharge them. After an experience of thirty-two
years of the kind brotherly feelig which prevails among us, perhaps
there was little reason to expect that the indulgence and forbearance
enjoyed by my predecessors should not be extended to me. It never-
theless has been peculiarly gratifyimg, pressed as I have been by
public duties, to find my endeavours to maintain our old effectiveness
so indulgently viewed, and I trust that whatever may have been
my faults, want of anxiety for your prosperity and of an earnest
desire for the advance of our science will not be found among them. I
now resign this chair to one who has previously occupied it, whose
contributions to our Society have been numerous and important, and
whose writings have so materially advanced the science of geology,
feeling confident that in Sir Charles Lyell you will have a President
in every way fitted for the office, and one who can, and will, devote
his time and attention to the welfare of our Society and to the means
it possesses of promoting the progress of that branch of knowledge
for the cultivation of which we are here associated.

THE

QUARTERLY JOURNAL

THE GHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

May 3, 1848.

John Dorrington, Esq., was elected a Fellow of the Society.

The following communications were then read :—

1. On the Development of the Permian System in Saxony, as
communicated by Professor NaumANN ¢o Sir Roprricx Mur-

cuison, G.C.S., F.R.S. &e.

TuHoseE geologists who have attended to the recent progress in the
classification of the paleeozoic rocks may well suppose that I was
highly gratified by receiving the letter from Professor Naumann of
Leipsic, of which I now send a translation. The reasons for the
adoption of the term Permian were so thoroughly explained, first in
a letter addressed by me to Dr. Fischer of Moscow*, next in com-
munications to the Geological Society of London, and lastly in the
work on Russia and the Ural Mountains, that I have now only to
refer to those documents. But I would specially call attention to the
first pages in the tenth chapter of the last-mentioned work, because
they were written after a visit to Thuringia, Saxony and Silesia, which
confirmed and extended the view I had adopted from the survey of
Russia; viz. that the Zechstem and Kupferschiefer were mere sub-
ordinate members of a great red sandstone group, of which the

* Phil. Mag., Dec. 1841.
VOL. V.—PART I. B

2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [May 3,

Roth-liegende was the base, and in which the Zechstein was covered
conformably by another red sandstone which had previously been erro-
neously united with the Trias. My colleagues, De Verneuil and Key-
serling, having cooperated with me in establishing the independence
of this group as developed upon so large a scale in the eastern regions
(Permia) of European Russia, in showing that by its fauna and flora
it must be viewed as the uppermost of the paleeozoic systems, it was
indeed evident that some single name must be applied to it, and hence
Permian was adhered to, the word being derived from a vast region
(twice as large as France) where the strata of this age are copiously
exhibited. No other general term had been applied to the group in
question ; for although my excellent friend M. d’Omalius d’ Halloy
had used the term Pénéen, that word having been applied by him to
characterize a ‘‘ sterile”? conglomerate only which overlies the coal-
measures of Belgium, it was evident from its very import that the
name could not be extended to a compound group of sandstone, lime-
stone, schists and conglomerates, which instead of being sterile was
clearly characterized by its organic contents. It is m this compre-
hensive sense that I have employed the word Permian in the small
Geological Map of England and Wales published by the Society for
the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The country of all others, how-
ever, in which the new term seemed least likely to be received was
Germany, where my eminent contemporary, Leopold von Buch, was
most anxious that the group should be named from the Zechstein so
long known, and whose fossils had mainly contributed to prove the
character of the system. Feeling the force of this appeal, I endea-
voured, in deference to my friend, to alter the name Permian which
had been announced ; but finding it to be impracticable to elicit from
“« Zechstein”’ a term which could have passed current in the French,
English and Italian languages, the euphonious synonym Permian was
continued. I need not remind English geologists of the desirableness
of having some general name for their ‘‘ lower new red sandstone”
and ‘“‘magnesian limestone ;”’ and as I now find that a distinguished
German professor, whose geological maps are an honour to our age,
has spontaneously come to the same conclusion for his own country,
I have the best hopes that the Permian System will henceforward be
recognized as founded on researches which proved it to be the upper-
most member of the palzeozoic series over an area of enormous mag-
nitude.
The following is the letter of Professor Naumann :—

Roperick I. Murcuison.
Rome, February 19, 1848.

“ Leipsiec, January 6, 1848.

“‘T hasten to inform you that the sandstones and schistose clays
of the environs of Oschatz, which are so loaded with impressions
of Lycopodites or Walchia, and which at first I considered to be of
the carboniferous age, develope more and more the characters of your
Permian formation. The discovery of the Calamites gigas and of a
fern closely allied to Sphenopteris erosa, together with the difference

1848.]| | NAUMANN ON THE PERMIAN SYSTEM IN SAXONY. 3

of most of the species of plants from those of the coal (terrain houiller),
particularly induce me to make this assertion. Further, many of the
ichthyolites are similar to the Paleeoniscus or Amblypteris and to the
Xenacanthus of Beyrich. The tract of country which furnishes the
data I now communicate is almost entirely covered by drift (diluvium),
and it is through trials for coal that my knowledge has been obtained.
In addition to the sandstones and argillaceous schists, there occurs a
very bituminous combustible schist which is charged with Cypris, and
forms beds from 2 to 16 feet thick, wherein the fossil fishes are con-
tamed. After having in vain examined by means of a draining adit
(a a) the upper stage of the sandstone and schistose clay, which is 500

2 Zz o. ae Os Z

5 Red sandstone*. 4 Zechstein. 3 Red sandstone.
2 Porphyry. 1 Sandstone and schistose clay.

feet thick, a shaft was sunk (4 0) in order to explore the lower stage
by a gallery (6c). A number of fossil plants were found in this shaft,
viz. Calamites 3 species, Sphenopteris 4 or 5 sp., Odontopteris 2 sp.,
Pecopteris 1 sp., Neuropteris 1 sp., Lycopodites or Walchia 1 sp.
The bituminous schist, it may be observed, was passed through be-
tween 6 and ec.

** Now all these: strata so resemble those of the coal-fields that they
might well indeed be mistaken for them. But such an interpretation
would, I am convinced, be erroneous; and I conceive that all the
lower strata, which consist of white sandstone and greyish schists, and
which attain a thickness of more than 800 feet, cannot be anything
else than the lower stage of the Roth-liegende (lower new red of
England). From that stage, or No. 1, the following then is the
ascending order: 2. Quartziferous porphyry. 3. Red sandstones.
4. Zechstein (magnesian limestone of England). 5. Red and mot-
tled sandstones and clays.

‘The last-mentioned band does not belong to the Trias, but to the
same formation as the Roth-liegende. That name is, however, no
longer applicable to a formation, the greatest part of which is of white
and grey colours ; and as to the Zechstein, it is here reduced to a band
which varies from 30 to 60 feet in thickness only. Hence it is that
I prefer the denomination of Permian as proposed by you, Sir; and
this term is the more applicable to the strata of Oschatz, inasmuch as
by all their relations they approach much more to the Russian than
to the Thuringian formation of the same age.

‘Generally speaking, the lower member of our Roth-liegende is
represented by white or grey sandstones and grits, as at Rohrlitz for
example, where they attain a thickness of 200 feet; and again, the

* The upper red sandstone (5) does not occur in Professor Naumann’s diagram,
probably because it is not seen at Oschatz; but I have added it in order that the
figure may agree with his table of superposition. This upper sandstone is indeed
seen in that relation in many other places in Saxony, Thuringia, &c., and has been
so classified by me. (See Russia and Ural Mountains, vol. i. p. 199-203.)

B 2

4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 3,

beds at Zwickau, which M. Gutbier has distinguished by the name
of ‘graues conglomerat,’ are nothing more than the base of the
Roth-hegende of Germany.”

In a second letter to Sir Roderick Murchison, dated November 25,
1848, Professor Naumann says, “‘In reply to your letter of the 20th
I hasten to inform you that I agree entirely with your idea, that the
Roth-liegende and the Zechstein together constitute but one and the
same formation, although in Germany these two members are very
often distinctly separated from each other. It is for this reason that
I shall always preserve this distinction in any description of the Per-
mian system, such as it presents itself in our country. In reference
to my assertion, that the coal-beds of Oschatz are separated from the
Roth-legende by porphyry, the term Roth-liegende was there used
im a purely petrographical sense, as signifying a sandstone coloured
red, and to indicate that the beds whose characters truly represent
what may be called Roth-liegende commence in this section above the
porphyry only. At all events, these red beds are only part of the
same whole which includes the grey beds below the porphyry, the
latter rock being intercalated in the middle of the Permian sandstone.
This takes place both near Oschatz and Rohrlitz, though the pheno-
menon is more clearly seen near the last-mentioned town, as is exhi-
bited in the 14th sheet (Grimma) of our geological map. _ Political
troubles have interfered with the working researches near Oschatz,
but tranguillity being restored, they will be renewed in the spring.
In the mean time, M. Gutbier will give a description of the Permian
flora of Saxony, the Saxon fauna of the same system having been
already published by M. Geinitz.”’

December 26, 1848.

2. On Change of Climate resulting from a Change in the Earth's
Axis of Rotation. By Sir Joun Lussocg, Bart., F.R.S.

[Communicated in a letter to Charles Lyell, Esq., V.P.G.S.]

I wave thought a good deal upon phenomena indicative of a change
in the climate of places on the earth’s surface and of changes m the
relative position of land and water, and as this is a subject to which
you have devoted so much attention, I wish to know whether you
think the following speculations of any value, or whether you think
they have already been anticipated by any mathematician.

It follows from the theory of rotation of a solid body, as is well
known, that, |. If a body revolves about certain axes which are called
principal, and no extraneous force acts upon the body, it will con-
tinue to do so for ever. P

So in the case of the earth: if EQ is the equator
and P the pole, if the earth, as is supposed, re-
volves at present about CP the axis of figure, as
this is a principal axis, it will continue to do so for
ever, and has done so since the origin. Hence the
geographical latitude of any place on the earth’s

>
&

1848. | LUBBOCK ON CHANGE OF CLIMATE. 5

surface remains unchanged ; no change of climate can obtain except
from a change in the internal temperature, or in the sun, the source
of heat.

But a change in climate alone is not sufficient to account for geo-
logical changes, which indicate that water now covers land formerly
dry, and vice versd.

The preceding conclusions are not modified by the attraction of
the moon, or by those causes which produce the precession of the
equinoxes, so that at Greenwich for example the latitude remains, as
Mr. Airy informs me, absolutely unchanged within those limits of
which the errors of the observations are susceptible. If however we go
back to the origin, it is unlikely that when the earth was first set
spinning, the axis of rotation should exactly coincide with the axis of
figure, unless indeed it were all perfectly fluid. We may however
go back to some time less remote, and suppose the axis of rotation
not coinciding with the axis of figure, and the earth in a semi-fluid
state, or rather, in consequence of the different degrees of fusibility
of different substances, partly solid in irregular masses and partly
fluid. We then advance to another period more recent in which
the earth consisted of land and water, and was suited for the support
of animal life. We may if we please consider this as the original
state. The only hypothesis I wish to insist upon as essential is, that
the axis of rotation had not the same geographical position as at
present.

In order to take the simplest case of the effect which a displace-
ment of the axis supposed possible may have had upon the relative
positions of land and water, suppose the solid part of the earth to
consist of a spheroidal nucleus revolving about the axis CP. The
effect of this would be to throw the
water into the position IKML about
the equator, the greater or less pro-
tuberance being caused by the greater
or less velocity of angular rotation.
It is evident that if the body after
any length of time moved about any
other axis of rotation, the water
would occupy a position about the new equator, land would become
sea and sea land, &ec. &e.

Now suppose a point situated at D with latitude QCD, revolving
about the axis CP and submerged, were after a lapse
of time to revolve about an axis CP! and havmg | P
latitude DCQ’, it would cease to be submerged, but 7 D
at the same time would be in a colder climate, which =
is consistent with what you find takes place in
Europe (vol. i. p. 155); but if we consider what fe (
takes place at the point D’ situated at a distance
of 180° longitude from D, we find precisely the reverse: primitively
dry the point D will become covered by sea, and will acquire a hotter
climate. The countries differing in longitude from us by 180° are at
present submerged by the Pacific.

6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [May 3,

The solid nucleus of the earth is not a sphere, but a spheroid ; and
if we suppose the axis of rotation at any time to have occupied a
different place from that which it occupies at the present time, and
not identical with the axis of figure, if any resistance exists, it would
cause the pole of the axis of rotation to describe a spiral round the
pole of the axis of figure, and finally it would become, as it is at pre-
sent, identical with it. Moreover you would necessarily have a change
in the relative positions of sea and land.

If the axis of rotation could suffer such a displacement by reason
of the causes which produce the precession of the equinoxes, you
would have another and a more natural way of accounting for the
existing phenomena; but this has been held to be impossible.

If we admit the rotation of the earth to take place under such
conditions that the surface experiences any friction (i. e. resistance,
which Laplace did not consider), then the invariability of geographical
latitude which exists otherwise, noticed by Laplace (vol. v. Méc. Cel.
p- 268), is not a necessary consequence.

Great obstacles interfere, so as to prevent a complete elucidation of
this question. Putting aside the great difficulty of an exact and
finished solution of the problem of the rotation of a body in a resisting
medium, we have no numerical data which would assist in deter-
mining the amount of such resistance. Still less do we know the
structure of the strata underneath the earth’s surface, or the history
of the changes which have taken place during the process of cooling,
which might enable us to trace the position of the axis of rotation m
remote times. So that I think the utmost that can be accomplished
by mathematics is to explain under what hypothesis a change of the
position of the axis’ of rotation is possible or not.

In the Méc. Cél. vol. v. p. 14, Laplace lays it down, that it is im-
possible to account for the changes which have taken place on the
surface of the earth, and in the relative positions of land and water, by
a change in the position of the axis of rotation. But this dictum is
founded upon the absence of two considerations, both of which appear
to me to be essential :

1. The dislocation of strata by cooling ;
2. The friction of the surface.

If the earth were at any remote epoch a homogeneous spheroid,
formed for example of any one pure metal in a state of fusion, then,
in the process of cooling, I doubt not that the mass would always be
made up of concentric spheroids, so that it would always revolve
about the same principal axis of rotation, which would never deviate
from the axis of figure. But the condition of the earth which really
obtains is so very far, as we know, from being that of homogeneity,
that it seems to me quite within the limits of possibility, that in cool-
ing the position of the axis of rotation may have changed, apart from
the influence of friction at the surface.

With regard to the second consideration, although not alluded to
in p. 14 of the Méc. Cdl. vol. v., it is expressly referred to by Laplace
at p. 254 of the same volume. The imequalities to which Laplace
there alludes, and which he supposes and admits may have existed

1848.] MOORE ON FOSSILIFEROUS BEDS OF WIGTOWNSHIRE. ‘f

and may have become obliterated by friction at the surface, are pro-
portional in amount to the sine of the co-latitude of the pole of the
axis of rotation, and could not exist if the axis coincided, as it does
now, with the axis of figure.

3. An Elucidation of the successive Changes of Temperature and the
Levels of the Oceanic Waters upon the Earth’s Surface, in har-
mony with Geological Evidences. By Wituiam DEvoNnsHIRE
SAULL, Esq., F.R.S.A., &c.

THIs paper commences with an investigation of matter in its various
forms, and proposes a new view of the nature of heat and light. The
author next states that the poles of the earth are not fixed and inva-
riable in position, as astronomers generally suppose, but are in con-
tinual motion. From these various causes combined he then deduces
a new theory to account for the alternations of climate and the changes
in the relative level of sea and land observed by geologists.

May 17, 1848.

J. R. Logan, Esq., Singapore, and the Rev. John Thornton, B.A.,
Kimbolton, were elected Fellows of the Society.

The followimg communications were read :—

1. On some Fossiliferous Beds in the Silurian Rocks of Wiarown-
SHIRE and AyrsHire. By J. Carrick Moores, Esq., Sec. G.S.

Tue difficulty of assigning to the great chain of rocks of the south
of Scotland their true place in the geological series, arises from the
rarity of fossil remains, and from the want of beds with such well-
marked mineral character, as to enable the observer to determine
their superposition. Part of this obscurity has been lately removed
by Mr. Nicol’s description of fossiliferous beds in the valley of the
Tweed (Geol. Journ. vol. iv. p. 195); and as any additional infor-
mation, however scanty, may be interesting, I shall briefly describe
the localities in Wigtownshire and the south of Ayrshire where I
have found fossils, commencing with some account of the general
structure of the country. |

_ The description given by Mr. Nicol of the physical structure of
Peeblesshire applies in the maim to Wigtownshire and the south of.
Ayrshire. There is the same prevalent strike in an E.N.E. direction,
a system of valleys running parallel to the strike formed by the con-
volutions of the rocks, with another transverse system of valleys at
right angles to the former, remarkably equidistant, and through
which the principal drainage of the country is effected. The rivers
Stincher and Finnart are instances of the former system ; the Cree,
the Bladenoch and the Tarf, the Luce, and the Piltanton of the
latter. The bays of Loch Ryan and Glenluce form another instance

8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 17,

of this transverse system. They are shallow bays, nowhere exceeding
seven fathoms in depth, separated by an isthmus about nine miles
broad of low land, consisting entirely of boulder clay, loose sands,
and peat bogs. The whole country, as we proceed from the highest
mountains of Kirkeudbrightshire towards the west, becomes less and
less elevated above the sea; so that an amount of depression, which
in the more eastern part of the chain would form a valley with a river
flowing through it, becomes an arm of the sea as we advance to the
west.

That this transverse system of valleys or fissures is of high geo-
logical antiquity, seems indicated by the fact, that the most western
of these depressions, the bay of Loch Ryan, is partly occupied by
unconformable strata of clay, sandstone, and conglomerate about 400
feet thick, the lowest bed of which contains Stigmaria ficoides and
Calamites. A fracture therefore had occurred across the greywacke
range, and a valley had been scooped out in it prior to the deposition
of these secondary rocks: and as this bay appears to be one of a
system, it would follow that all these parallel fissures took place pre-
vious to the deposition of the coal-measures.

The rocks consist of the usual varieties of coarse and thin-bedded
greywacke, and clay-slate in which true slaty cleavage can never be
detected, with occasional intervening beds of plutonic rock, which in
Wigtownshire is usually felspathic, varying from a nearly pure felspar
rock to a syenite.

These plutonic rocks appear to follow the direction of the sediment-
ary beds, and to be interstratified with them ; yet I am persuaded they
are most frequently, if not always, of an intrusive character. The great
extent of coast in Wigtownshire, washed by a boisterous sea, affords
favourable opportunities for observing : near the Corswall Lighthouse,
for example, an extent of many acres 1s washed bare by the Irish Sea.
In such situations (and they are numerous), whenever a bed of plu-
tonic rock is traced far, it will be found to cut transversely across the
greywacke beds, which are thus seen to abut against it. The plu-
tonic rock generally resumes its direction between the beds ; so that
if the poimt where it traverses them were not exposed, it might lead
to false conclusions. The sedimentary beds are usually altered near
their contact ; they become more or less porphyritic, quartz veins are
frequent in the vicinity of the trap, dark shales become white and
sometimes red; and these effects are seen on both sides, and to the
same distance from the dyke.

I shall now describe briefly the section exhibited along the Irish
Channel from the Mull of Galloway to Corswall Point.

At the Mull of Galloway and for some distance to the north, the
beds are nearly vertical. From the hill called Dunman to a point
half-way between Portencorkrie Bay and Clanyard Bay, the coast for
about two miles consists of granite, which covers a rectangular sur-
face, extending about two miles inland to the eastward: it is a
quadruple granite of quartz, felspar, mica, and hornblende, sometimes
pink, but principally grey ; it is distinctly columnar, dividing into
prisms about a foot square, and is too subject to decomposition to be

1848.] MOORE ON FOSSILIFEROUS BEDS OF WIGTOWNSHIRE. 9

Corswall Lighthouse
Flaggy greywacke

Conglomerates ..

Shales
and }Cairnbro
Slates,

bedded
greywacke.

Port Patrick.

Morroch Bay......:.....+

Slates and Shales

Ping Syenite 5 0. ee 8

Cawtigarroch............

Grentian Slates... ......+..

Granite +. 2... ."

Mull of Galloway

OK osciete «

Knock Bay.
Thick-

sere neee

eeeere

Graptolites.

Mytilus (?)

Graptolites.

used for any but the poorer
farm-houses. I have thought
this granite worth mentioning,
as I am not aware that any has
been described as occurring be-
tween that of Cairnsmuir on the
Cree in Kirkcudbrightshire, and
that of the Morne Mountains in
County Down.

From the bay of Drumore to
the Grennan, a distance of one
mile and a half, a mass of slates
which have been used for roofing
purposes dips to the north at a
high angle ; and after passing a
great mass of syenite at Cairn-
garroch, which has altered the
neighbouring rocks and invaded
them in the form of dykes, we
arrive at the Morroch Bay, one
mile and a half south from Port
Patrick ; here a thick mass of
shales, black, red and grey, in
a vertical position, occurs inter-
stratified with syenite and red
earthy trap : the black shales are
in some places full of grapto-
lites; they are remarkably fissile,
splitting readily as thin as a card,
and their surfaces are marked by
minute specks of iron pyrites.
The red shales are similar to
them in every respect, except in
colour, and in not containing
fossils, —differences probably due
to their greater proximity to the
trap. Proceeding thence to the
north beyond Port Patrick, after
passing much greywacke, so in-
terfered with by a dark serpen-
tinous trap, as scarce to present
a trace of stratification, we arrive
at the bay of Porto Bello near
Cairnbrock, where there is a con-
siderable thickness of slaty shales
and flags, containing: graptolites,
and what appears to be the cast
of a Mytilus. These beds dip to
the south at a high angle. About
a mile and a half further north,

10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [May 17,

(the beds still uninterruptedly dipping south,) at the Dally Bay,
graptolites again occur in a red flag or tilestone. Still further north,
the beds for about a mile have a reversed dip to the north, after
which they recover their southerly dip, then gradually become vertical,
and at the extreme north point of the peninsula they plunge into the
sea at a very high angle to the north. These vertical and highly
inclined beds near the Corswall Lighthouse are very remarkable from
their containing beds of conglomerate of a coarser nature than any I
have ever seen described as occurring in so old a formation, with the
exception of those of the Potsdam sandstone, described by Mr. Lyell
as old Silurian. The fragments generally vary from the size of one
inch to a foot in diameter ; but in some of the beds, boulders of three,
four, and even five feet diameter occur. They are well-rounded, and
principally consist of red quartziferous porphyry and a large-grained
grey syenite ; but serpentine, red jasper, and other rocks occur ; and I
have found one or two instances of large angular fragments of grey-
wacke. ‘There are no rocks in the neighbourhood, as far as I know,
from whence any of these rounded fragments could have been derived :
serpentine, it is true, occurs in great quantity at the Bennan Head,
two miles and a half north of Ballantrae ; but it can be proved that
that serpentine is of a considerably newer date, since it has penetrated
and altered sandstones newer than the coal-measures. The matrix
of this conglomerate is sometimes a green, trappean-looking sand-
stone of exceeding toughness, and sometimes an indurated sandstone
indistinguishable from many common varieties of greywacke. The
beds are well-exposed for a great extent ; they are cut across in many
places at right angles to their strike by deep fissures, resembling
those in Arran and elsewhere occasioned by the decomposition of a
trap dyke. These fissures afford abundant evidence that these con-
glomerates are vertical beds, m every respect conformable to the
flagey greywacke which is found to the north, to the south, and
sometimes interstratified with them. Their vertical position is in-
dependently shown by the smaller pebbles being arranged im per-
pendicular layers, and by the greater diameters of the larger boulders
being vertical.

Fig. 2.

Orthis, &c. &c.
Graptolites.
Graptolites

2B
ia

a
———
—

las 5 .
foe \< = Sp &
ao ra OP < - S
ok Se =
i= 8 og < 7)
= 2) uo)
~ q Q 2 o =]
<2 ie = (Sire) fe i
Qo” eS Ss o |
= } ee oO
a Ss Ee <
Os c
= Es wb
= O
iS)

OO t—“‘“CS;

1848.] MOORE ON FOSSILIFEROUS BEDS OF WIGTOWNSHIRE. 11

Crossing from the peninsula to the mainland at the Cairn, a great
thickness of slates occurs, containing graptolites in abundance ;
and rather more than a mile to the north, red flaggy beds exactly
like those at the Dally Bay contain the same fossil. I conceive these
two sets of beds to be the prolongation of those before mentioned at
Cairnbrock and Dally Bay; my reasons being, that the beds are
nearly in the line of strike ; the distance between the two across the
line of strike is about the same, while their inclination in both cases
is at a high angle, and to the same point of the compass; and the
two beds on the Irish Sea in mineral character are respectively similar
to the two on the east side of Loch Ryan. Moreover, on the west
shore of Loch Ryan, at a spot called Sloughnagarry, in a line between
the two most northern fossiliferous deposits, I have found the same
graptolites in exactly similar red flags ; and these are the only loca-
lities in the neighbourhood where, after much searching, I have
found fossils. If it be objected, that in this view the Cairn slates
ought to be found on the west shore of Loch Ryan, to the south of
Sloughnagarry, I answer, that the older rocks are covered on that side
of the bay for some miles by newer formations.

From the Cairn to the entrance of Glen App, a distance of about
three miles, the rock has always a south dip. Iam unable to state
what the dip is from thence for about three miles across the strike ;
till on reaching the valley of the Stincher, we find a limestone which
I have traced along that river in five distinct localities : in all of these
it is highly inclmed with a dip to the south. Its most western ap-
pearance is at a quarry near the mountain of Knockdolian, distant
about three miles from Ballantrae. It bears about N.E. by E. and
is much interfered with by serpentine, of which, judging from a hasty
examination, the hill of Knockdolian seems to consist. The lime-
stone shows itself again by the road-side with the same strike about
half a mile further up the river, where it is not worked ; again at
Craigneel near the village of Colmonell, bearing N.E. by N., where
it has been extensively worked; next at a place on the road-side,
about one mile and a half above Colmonell; and lastly near Dal-
jerrick. Although four of these localities occur on the north and
one (Craigneel) on the south side of the river, whose course runs
parallel to the bearing of the beds, yet I suspect that this arises from
dislocation, and not from there being more than one bed. Craig-
neel, which is the greatest deviation from the line of bearing, contains
the same fossils as Knockdolian ; in short traverses which I made, I
was unable to find a second bed ; and the farmers have no knowledge
of any other locality than those mentioned ; testimony not to be neg-
lected im a country which derives almost all its lime for agricultural
purposes from Ireland. The limestone is only worked at Knockdo-
lian and Craigneel, and at this last place the works seem suspended
for fear of undermining the old castle of Craigneel, which singularly
enough has been built upon the only bed of limestone in all Galloway.
The bed is about thirty feet thick, dipping south at a high angle,
which dip I ascertained to continue for some hundred yards to the

12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [May 17,

southward. In the centre it is a dark grey compact limestone, de-
generating into a clayey shale at the outside.

The fossils which I extracted from it have been submitted to Mr.
Salter, who has had the kindness to examine and minutely describe
them. For the most part they were ill-preserved, and not numerous ;
with the exception of the Orthides, which were very perfect, and at
Knockdolian were in tolerable abundance. I hope at another visit to
increase the list, and add something to this imperfect sketch.

Fig. oe 3 = , Ballantrae.
a = 3
faa} =
= a
3S
—— a =
Corswall Lighthouse. = = S
= =>
SS
Dally Bay. == « Cairnryan.
= \ "| SS
- : A i 2 ==
airnbrock. = | = >
SSS \ S rey
Sail
= /
Port Patrick, =
Port Spittal, a
==: =
Ardwell Bay. -
= ————Ss—=
Port Logan. =
=== Grennan.
Portencorkrie Bay. ———
Kirkmaiden.

Exe Felspar porphyry, &c.

xn K Ke

1848.] SALTER ON FOSSILS FROM THE STINCHER RIVER. 13

2. Note on the Fossils from the Limestone on the StiNcHER River,
and from the Slates of Locu Ryan. By J. W. Satter, Esq.,
F.G.S.

Tue fossils from the limestone are decidedly Lower Silurian ; and I
would identify them at once as belonging to the same epoch—pro-
bably the same bed—as those which Mr. Nicol brought from Peebles-
shire; although, with the exception of an Orthis and a Trilobite,
there are no fossils common to the two collections. In the Peebles-
shire locality, Trilobites in plenty, with Cephalopods and Brachio-
pods, were the characteristic fossils ; in this case we have only spiral
shells, an Orthis and a Trilobite. As however they were all in both
cases obtained from a very limited area, such a difference does not
make it less probable that they belonged to the same strata; it is
merely a local peculiarity, and may perhaps in the present case indi-
cate a less depth of water.

The list is as follows :—

Pleurotomaria Moorei, new species.

—, another species, much depressed.

latifasciata, Portlock ?

Murchisonia scalaris, new species. Common in the Bala limestone.

Euomphalus. <A large species that may be #. qualteriatus, Schloth.
(imperfect).

Euomphalus? Large reversed species; rather common, but imper-
fect; its shape reminds us of the large Maclurea, Hall, from
America.

Orthis confinis, new species.

Illeanus Davisii, Salter.

The last two species are those found also in Peeblesshire; the
fragment referred to I/lenus Davisii in Mr. Nicol’s paper being pro-
bably this species ; it has narrow body-rings.

None of the species brought by Prof. Sedgwick and Mr. Moore
from the sandstone of Girvan Water appear to occur in this limestone.

The fossils of the red slate on Loch Ryan are Graptolites, and
Euomphalus furcatus, M‘Coy, a species also found in the black
Llandeilo flags of Wexford and Cardiganshire. The same Graptolite
occurs in the black slates of Loch Ryan and the black shales of Wex-
ford and 8. Wales; one in the red slate is identical with G. pristis,
Portlock, from Tyrone. Taking the two bands of slate together, we
have—

Euomphalus furcatus, M‘Coy.
Graptolites folium, Hisinger.
— pristis, Hisinger [as figured by Portlock *. |
tenuis, Portlock.
ramosus, Hall.
seatans, Hall.
tenia, new species.

See

————

* The species so named by Portlock is possibly not that of Hisinger ; some spe-
cimens appear identical with G. mucronatus, Hall.

14 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [May 17,

In these localities we do not as yet find the G. Sedgwickii, so abun-
dant in Peeblesshire and also in Tyrone ; other species take its place.

Description of the Species.

PievRoToMARIA Mooret, n. sp._ Plate I. fig. 1.

Turbinate, conical, transversely ribbed ; last whorl longer than the
spire of four or five whorls, which are somewhat flattened; it has
three ribs above the band, and an angle a little below it, from thence
the base is smooth and flattened; umbilicus none?; band a little
prominent, narrow, placed a little above the suture, which is hardly
channeled ; mouth rounded, and a little produced below ; shell rather
thick.

This is presumed to be a Pleurotomaria, from general analogy and
the appearance of a band, but the lines of growth are not visible on
our specimen, which is much worn, and has part of the last whorl
broken away; the shell when perfect must have been 2 inches long.
In general shape and proportion exceedingly like an undescribed Lud-
low species, but with the band narrower and not close to the suture,
and the ribs less numerous.

Loc. Lower Silurian limestone, Stincher River, Ayrshire.

PLEUROTOMARIA LATIFASCIATA, Portlock ?
Syn. Schizostoma latifasciatum, Portl. Geol. Rep. Pl. XXX. fig. 4.

Our specimen is only a cast, and may be the same as Portlock’s
species ; the shape of the whorls is very similar.
Loc. Limestone of the Stincher River, Ayrshire.

MUvRCHISONIA SCALARIS, n. sp. Plate I. fig. 2.

Only internal casts, supposed to be the same as a common Bala
species; the regular sharp angle in the middle of each whorl, and
the elongate shape enable us easily to recognise it.

Loc. Limestone, Stincher River, Ayrshire.

N.B. The exterior of perfect specimens shows the band of the
genus along the angle, and the fine strize curve back to it and return
again. Hall in the ‘ Paleontology of New York’ has figured many
species of this group of shells, and our shell may possibly be one of
them ; it can only be named provisionally.

EvomMpPHaLus? —————,, reversed species. Plate I. fig. 3.

Sections and fragments of this curious shell, badly preserved, are
not uncommon in the impure limestone. We have only the internal
cast ; the shell must have been thick, from the interval between the
much-depressed whorls, which are flattened above, abruptly rounded
or even squarish on the edge; and the base, as far as we can see, is
again flat, so that the shell is nearly discoid. There are no traces of
septa, nor are the whorls really free. It has some resemblance to
Maclurea magna, Hall, Paleontology of New York.

Loc. Greenish muddy limestone, Stincher River.

1848.| SALTER ON FOSSILS FROM THE STINCHER RIVER. 15

OrTHIS CONFINIS, n. sp. Plate I. fig. 4.

Rectangular, transverse, flattened, irregularly and coarsely striated ;
dorsal valve a little more convex, slightly channeled or depressed.
down the central line; area narrow, vertical; ventral valve with a
slight angular ridge down the middle ; area moderate, oblique ; beak
scarcely projecting ; ribs in both valves numerous, irregularly increa-
sing in number at a short distance from the beak, and often fasciculate
in twos or threes, narrower than the interstices, which are smooth
and not crossed by any lines of growth.

The slight depth of the central channel, sometimes hardly visible,
readily distinguishes our shell from O. vespertilio, which in the fas-
ciculation of the striee and general form it resembles ; but the ribs
in that are more numerous, closer, and broader than the interstices.
We have no specimens to show internal structure.

Loc. Limestone of the Stincher River, Ayrshire.

Inuanvus Davisii (Salt. in Sedgwick ined.).

Although pretty certain that the few segments of the body we pos-
sess belong to the species common in the Bala limestone, it would be
out of place to give its characters here. Possibly the fragments may
be I. Bowmanni, Mem. Geol. Survey, vol. 11. pt. 1, but the segments
appear narrower, and therefore more like the Bala species.

Loc. Limestone of Stincher River, Ayrshire.

Fossils of the Slates of Locu Ryan and Coast of WiGTOWNSHIRE.

EvompHatus? rurcatus, M‘Coy.
Syn. £. furcatus, M‘Coy, Sil. Foss. Ireland, pl. 1. fig. 11 (icon. mala).

An impression of the upper side of the last whorl of a species
characteristic of the Lower Silurian shales of S. Wales and Wexford ;
it differs a little however, for the lines of growth are not sharply
raised as in the Welsh fossil, a difference possibly due to the greater
compression of the slate, or perhaps to this being a cast of the upper
side. The Welsh specimens show only the base of the shell.

Loe. In reddish slate with Graptolites, Loch Ryan.

GRAPTOLITES FOLIUM, Hisinger. Plate I. fig. 5.

Lower portion or stem linear, strongly dentate below, with teeth as
broad as they are prominent; upper portion much broader, obtuse,
serrated, with close narrow teeth projecting forwards, [the whole flat,
with no projection at the midrib, and very thin and membranous ?}.

Although Hisinger’s figure is so short, it is probably a fragment of
the above-described fossil, very common in Lower Silurian shales.
The state of preservation in which it is found, on the faces of fine
slates, makes it unlikely we shall be able to get at the thickness,
texture, or minute structure; indeed it was probably rather mem-
branous than corneous.

Loc. Black slate, Loch Ryan; red slate, Loch Ryan.

16 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [May 17,

G. pristis, Hisinger ’, Plate I. fig. 6.
Syn. G. pristis, Portlock, Geol. Rep. pl. 19. figs. 10 & 11.

Our specimen is the base of the stem, and has not yet the serra-
tures distinctly marked ; this is also the case with some of Portlock’s

specimens.
Loc. Red slate, Loch Ryan.

G. PRISTIS var. FOLIACEUS, Portlock.
Syn. G. pristis, var. foliaceus, Portlock, Geol. Rep. pl. 19. fig. 9 a.
Loc. Black slate, Wigtownshire.

G. ramosvs, Hall, Plate I. fig. 7.
Syn. G. ramosus, Hall, Paleont. New York, pl. 73. fig. 3.

Axis cleft, the branches divergent and bearing polype-cells on the
outer edge only. I should be disposed to refer this to G. pristis, for
the unbranched portion is much hike it, and such a monstrosity does
not seem unlikely in so thin a plate, with a double series of cells. We
have two specimens affected in this way, and another species men-
tioned afterwards.

Loc. Red slate, Loch Ryan.

G. Tania, Sowerby and Salter, n. sp. Plate I. fig. 8.

Linear, very long ; axis lateral, slightly thickened ; a thickened rib
runs along the opposite edge, and the teeth or polype-cells project
very little beyond it ; they are appressed along the edge, probably on
one of the flat sides, the teeth scarcely projecting ; two cells together
longer than the stem is broad; stem reticulate, the axis crossed by
sharp close strize ; a short rib descends obliquely from the top of each
cell to the middle of the stem opposite the next cell.

The last-mentioned ridge may mark the inner boundary of the
polype-cell, which projects so little in this pretty species, and is
therefore very likely seated upon the flat side. Our specimen, if this
be the case, shows the barren side: the longitudinal thickening along
the polype-bearing edge is very curious ; it may be occasioned by the
superior strength of the cells resisting pressure.

Loc. Black slate, Wigtownshire.

G. Tenuts, Portlock? Plate I. fig. 9—a.

A specimen supposed to belong to this species, 6 inches long, is
bent and broken; the entire part, 4 inches long, is bent into a
strong curve; and upon the belly of the curve are hooked eighteen
specimens of a small two-branched Graptolite, with teeth outside ;
they were evidently caught on each other while drifting. At first
sight these small Graptolites appear as if they were straight ones
caught upon the long stem, and folded or bent double by the current,
but a closer examination shows they are forked at the same or nearly
the same angle of 50°, and one or two lying by themselves on the same
slab are of the same form; those which do show the teeth distinctly
have them on the outer edges. The species appears to be the same
as that described by Hall as G. sewtans.

Quart. Geol. Journ. Vol.V. F1t.

tea 3

aes st oo
Vow

S De C..50 werby fect.

7 a a ee ele ee ap al * ase be bh i, Les Pek
Ay J we iyar nt nan bah aL ne . ane rs :
¢ i Ue eh aD a ;

1848. | SMITH ON SCRATCHED BOULDERS. 17

G. sexTans, Hall, Plate I. fig. 10, 6, c, magnified.
Syn. G. sextans, Hall, Paleont. New York, pl. 74. fig. 3.

Small, thin, rounded at the base, and branched directly from it at
an angle of 45° or 50°, and with broad teeth outside ; the depth of
the teeth almost as great as the width of the shaft.

Nineteen or twenty specimens on one slab present the same cha-
racters.

This is a new form, and it is a more simple variation of the two-
edged Graptolites than those with teeth on the inner sides, in which
the splitting of the axis does not seem so intelligible. Our specimens
are very ill-preserved, and were probably very thin.

Loe. Black slate, west of Wigtownshire.

3. On Scratched Boulders.
By James Smiru, Esq., F.R.S.L.&E., F.G.S.

Part I.
[Read April 19, 1848. ]

THERE are two modes by which we may suppose that boulders have
been scratched; they may have been held fast in a fixed position
whilst some hard substance passed over them, or they may have been
entangled in the under surface of a moving body, such as an iceberg
or glacier, and dragged over rocks, which would thus also be scratched.

I cannot doubt but that both these causes have contributed to the
production of the phenomena in question. The instances to which
I mean at present to call the attention of the Society belong to the
former class—the boulders have been stationary whilst the scratching
body, whatever it was, passed over them.

In a former communication* I stated, that I had observed, on the
shores of the Gare Loch in Dunbartonshire, two boulders half im-
bedded in the till or diluvial covering, both of them grooved in the
same direction, from N.N.W. to S.S.E., and concluded that it was
not probable that the parallelism was accidental : subsequent observa-
tions have fully confirmed this conjecture. In the following year Mr.
Maclaren of Edinburgh discovered rocks on both sides of the Gare
Loch, which were grooved in the same direction as the above-men-
tioned boulders: I have since had an opportunity of confirming his
observations and of discovering additional instances, some of them in
the immediate vicinity of the two boulders. I have also discovered
several additional scratched boulders, and in every case the direction
of the scratches is the same. As this is also the direction of the axis
of the valley which forms the trough of the Gare Loch, Mr. Mac-
laren concludes that they have been caused by a glacier, which for-
merly filled it.

Whatever was the cause, it must have been subsequent to the de-
position of the till at least in this locality. We must be careful there-
fore not to confound the two phenomena, and conclude that these

* Read June 4, 1845.
VOL. V.—PART I. C

18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 17,

boulders were transported by the moving body which produced the
scratches.

From the difficulty, if not impossibility, of accounting for these
furrows except by glacial agency, and from the marked resemblance
which the till bears to the moraines left by ancient glaciers in Switz-
erland, it has been concluded that the cause of both deposits was
the same. A careful examination of the Swiss moraines, however,
satisfied me that they are essentially different. We have in both cases
a confused assemblage of fragments of rock and earthy matter thrown
together without regard to gravity, and in both cases the erratic
blocks are found to have come in a certain direction ; so far the re-
semblance is complete: but m Scotland we find that the blocks be-
come rounded, and diminish in size as they recede from the parent
rock : in ancient moraines they do neither: there is nothing im fact,
either in glaciers or in icebergs, to round the blocks they bear along
with them, or to reduce them in size. The conditions therefore re-
quired, before we can admit that blocks have been transported by
glaciers, are, angularity, a given direction, and no apparent diminution
in size. Those which have fallen from icebergs ought to have the
same characters, except as to definite direction; they ought also to
be superficial. It appears to me, that the phenomena presented by
the till could only be produced by the tumultuary and transient ac-
tion of water.

Supposing this to be the case, could blocks impelled by a sudden
rush, such as an earthquake-wave, produce the scratches ? Without
denying the possibility of their doing so m any case, I do not con-
sider it possible in the present one—the strize are too regular. A rock
in the immediate neighbourhood of the above-mentioned boulders
may truly be called a “‘ roche polie ;”’ and in one place there is a furrow
eighteen inches broad and six inches deep, which could not possibly
be caused by a rolling mass.

The scratched rocks pass under the sea ; I do not however consider
this as a proof of the recentness of the scratching process, but of a
recent subsidence of the land.

Part II.
[Read May 17, 1848.]

AtTHouGH I have not attempted to explain the particular pheeno-
mena described in the former part of this paper, I think it must be
admitted, that the scratches and furrows on rocks and boulders must
in many instances be ascribed to glacial action either in the shape of
icebergs or glaciers.

If we suppose that the temperature of Great Britain was as low at
the period to which we must ascribe them, as it is in other quarters
of the globe at present, under correspondent latitudes,—and there is
no antecedent improbability in the supposition,—then ice under both
forms must have been in action. Let us inquire what would be the
effects of such a state of things? In a period of geological repose,
glaciers would scratch the rocks on the sides and bottoms of their

1848. | SMITH ON SCRATCHED BOULDERS. 19

valleys, moraines would be deposited, and fragments of rocks, de-
tached from the shores and resting upon, or entangled in the coast
ice, would be carried out to sea and dropt on its bottom at different
depths ; but in this case the blocks would be found at lower levels
than the rocks from which they were detached.

Mr. Darwin in a late paper has however shown, that boulders ive-
quently occur at a level considerably higher than their parent rocks,
and has accounted for it by supposing that they were floated to their
present position by ice during a movement of depression of the
land.

Now we have, in the superficial beds in the basin of the Clyde,
evidences of such a movement which must have taken place in the
period when the climate was colder than at present, and which if not
paroxysmal was sufficiently rapid to have entombed alive the testa-
ceous inhabitants of the sea, and to have covered them up to a con-
siderable depth with beds of finely laminated clay, which could only
have been formed at the bottom of the sea. It is obvious that such
a movement must have had the effects ascribed to it by Mr. Darwin.

In former communications I have shown, that the elevated marine
deposits in the superficial beds in this locality belong to two distinct
epochs, namely the newer pliocene or pleistocene, in which there is
a perceptible change in the fauna, and the post-pliocene, in which
the marine remains agree with those of our present seas.

In the newer pliocene beds, the shells which are recent, but un-
known in the British seas, have all been found in the Arctic seas ;
here then we have evidence of a colder climate, and can thus account
for the presence of ice upon our shores. Now it is in these beds that
the proofs of depression occur. Beds of littoral and sublittoral shells,
such as the Mytilus edulis, are found to underlie beds of laminated
clay totally destitute of organic remains, which are sometimes thirty
feet in thickness, and seldom less than ten, except in cases where they
have been removed by the subsequent wasting action of the sea.

In the shelly beds, the shells are generally speaking in situ ; the
bivalves with both valves adherent, still covered with epidermis, and
the borers in their vertical position. As there is no gradation from
beds in which the animals must have been alive when they were co-
vered up, to others totally destitute of organic remains, we cannot
ascribe their absence in the latter to the gradual process of decay,
but to an entire change of conditions, and that change must have
taken place with a certain degree of rapidity ; otherwise the shells
would have exhibited some evidences of the lapse of time which oc-
curred between the time when the animals were alive, and that in
which they were covered up.

Under these circumstances, the ice upon the shores must have been
floated to a higher level, and with it the fragments of rock resting
upon it.

I am satisfied therefore that Mr. Darwin has solved one of the
numerous difficulties which we encounter, when we attempt to ex-
plain the phenomena of the erratic block beds.

The same cause would also account for the position of the super-

20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [May 17,

ficial boulders, which must im many cases have been brought into
their present situations subsequently to the deposition of the till.

4. Observations on the Recent Formations in the Vicinity of En1n-
BURGH. By James Nicot, F.R.S.E., Ass. See. Geol. Soe.

Tue late discussions relative to the transportal of erratic blocks and
the formation of the connected deposits having induced me to believe
that the following observations may not be without interest, I now
venture to bring them before the Society. They do not pretend to
give any general view of the district, which has already been very
ably done by Mr. Milne, in a memoir in the Transactions of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh, but merely describe a few facts and
sections which I have observed at different times.

The lowest of the recent formations in the immediate neighbour-
hood of Edinburgh is the blue or blackish coloured boulder clay,
known under the name of the ‘Till.’ In some other places the till
rests on beds of stratified sand seldom more than five or six feet
thick ; but in one place, where exposed in a cutting on the Hawick
railway, about twelve miles south of Edinburgh, more than ten times
that depth. The till is usually regarded as showimg no marks of
stratification, and hence has been described as origmating In some
violent and sudden action, unlike any now apparent on the globe.
The following sections (figs. 1, 2, 3), which were exposed during the

il |
is i
i
formation of the railway from Edinburgh to Leith, show that this view
of the nature of the deposits is only partially true, and consequently
that the above theory of its mode of origin cannot be maintained.
In these sections it will be seen that the blue clay or till contains
beds of yellow sand deposited in layers. These beds of sand are very
irregular in their extent and in the direction of their lamination. In
one section (fig. 2) a portion of the sand is bent over, forming an
apparent anticlinal axis. This appearance however I regard as pro-
duced during deposition, and not as the result of any subsequent
change. In other places the sand forms small nests, or detached
masses in the clay, also proving its deposition by local and variable
causes, and not by any general rush of waters, which would have
mixed up the sand and clay in one confused mass.

In the clay many boulders occur, from a few ounces to several

|
wll

| |

keypo umorg

“TAL

1848.] NICOL ON RECENT FORMATIONS NEAR EDINBURGH. 21

tons in weight, and generally derived from trap, sandstone, or lime-
stone rocks, like those composing the coal-field on which it rests.

Dem -"
ial!

Ser 19

juin

Say
Saw
CN

pues jo
s19hE] QI “TTL

Zi
1

=——,

Some of these boulders however consist of granite, mica-slate or
other primary strata, and must consequently have been carried a
greater distance, as none of these rocks are found nearer than from
forty-five to fifty miles, and granite in any quantity only at seventy
miles’ distance. These boulders are generally rounded and water-
worn, but some on the contrary are angular. They are found in
every part of the mass of blue clay, but, as it seemed to me, in more
abundance in certain portions, and apparently arranged in horizontal
lines.

These facts appear to prove that the deposition of this boulder
clay or till was gradual,—the effect of long-continued and variable
agents ; and not of a sudden rush of water, or debacle, as has been
imagined. The whole phzenomena seem more consistent with the
supposition that the clay was formed by the continuous action of the
sea on the various strata of the subjacent coal-field, than with any
other theory. The blue clay forming the great bulk of the till may
be regarded as merely the decomposed shales of the coal formation,
and the sands as comminuted sandstones: even the relative position
of the deposits, with the blue clay below, and a browner and more sandy
clay resting upon it, as seen in the sections, favours this opinion. The
soft shales when exposed to the action of the waves would be wasted
away before the harder sandstones and trap rocks, and the deposit
formed from their destruction would consequently occupy a lower
position. 'The boulders may have been brought to the place where
we now find them by ice, or entangled in the roots of floating trees,
or in any other mode now in action for the transport of rock masses.
Though mixed up irregularly with the mass of clay, it is by no means
necessary that they should have been always transported along with it
or by the same agent. Were a number of boulders at the present
day dropped on a mass of soft semifluid clay at the bottom of the sea,
they would not remain on the surface, but sink in it to various depths,
and thus appear to have been deposited by the same agents, when in
reality they were deposited by wholly different causes. Neither does
the apparent want of stratification in the clay prove it to have been

22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 17,

deposited simultaneously, or in a violent manner, as this is a common
character in all mud formations.

In the sections now exhibited, the brown clay rests on a pretty
even surface of the till. In some other places however there was
proof that the till had been exposed to erosive action before the de-
position of the immediately superior formation. In many places it
was worn into hollows, as if part of it had been removed by the action
of water: one of these hollows was very remarkable, bemg about five
or six feet wide by three or four deep, and closely resembled the
channel of a small stream. It was also filled with gravel and sand,
in all respects like that found in such a stream at present. It was
seen with the same characters on both sides of the cutting, but how
far it contmued beyond could not be known. I had no doubt that
it had been formed by some stream of running water, which, if we
suppose the till deposited in the sea, would imply that it had been
elevated and again depressed for the deposit of the superior beds.
This elevation of the till to the surface, permitting the action of the
atmosphere on any shells or other remains contained in it, may
perhaps account for the rarity or rather entire absence of fossils in
this deposit.

The second subject which I should wish to notice has reference
to the transport of erratic blocks. As already stated, this has begun
even in the earliest period, during the deposition of the till, and has
continued down to the most recent. They occur im the brown clay
represented in the sections resting on the till, and in a higher deposit
of gravel and boulders which often covers the deposit of fine strati-
fied sand seen filling a hollow in the brown clay in section fig. 3

——s i an ai
Re 4 s got hi CT ea i if
i i | iil Zz

They are frequently found lying completely exposed on the surface,
and in this case may never have been buried in any of the subjacent
deposits. Boulders of trap rocks are by far the most common, but
with them are many fragments of sandstone, limestone, and even of
coal, and a few also of primary rocks. I have found the latter over
every part of the coal-field, and far up the sides of the transition
mountains that bound it on the south: even in the centre of that
chain, in the valley of the Tweed, boulders of primary rocks, though

1848.]| NICOL ON RECENT FORMATIONS NEAR EDINBURGH. 23

rare, occasionally occur. The most remarkable accumulation of them
is however on the Pentland Hills, that range of mountains seeming
to have stopped many of them in their journey to the south. Some
of the boulders found on these hills are remarkable for their size.
One angular block of mica-slate seen near Habbie’s How, resting on
the declivity of the hill, according to a measurement I made, would
weigh six or eight tons. Further west I found another block, also
angular, of the same rock, which would weigh about three-quarters of
a ton. When it is considered that these masses must have been
carried upwards of forty miles in a direct line, floating ice seems the
only agent to which their transport can be ascribed. Blocks of a
smaller size are very common, and of a great variety of kinds, some
indeed of a mineralogical character, which is unlike any fixed rock I
have ever observed or seen described in Scotland. On one hill 1500
to 1600 feet high, I found these travelled stones particularly abundant,
and apparently increasing in numbers from below upwards. In some
places they appeared to form as it were broad bands running nearly
in straight lines from N.N.W. to S.S.E., and without any reference
to the present declivity of the ground, except that they became more
numerous towards the summit of the ridge. These blocks consisted
chiefly of trap rocks, especially basalt, the hill on which they rested
being a red felspar or claystone porphyry. Many were of sandstone,
sometimes rounded, but more often im angular masses, one block
measuring six feet long, five broad, and three feet thick, and con-
sequently weighing about six tons. This mass was lying on the side
of the hill facing the south, so that any current from the north,
which had propelled it thus far, would in all probability have also
rolled it to the bottom of the hill.

These sandstone and trap boulders lie at an elevation above the
great mass of the similar rocks in the surrounding country. There
may be a few points of sandstone and trap at nearly the same height,
but only six or eight miles distant, and I do not believe that the
great variety of trap rocks found on the top of this hill could be col-
lected except from places now several hundred feet lower. This
therefore forms a good instance of the class of facts which Mr. Dar-
win’s theory, lately proposed to the Society *, was intended to explain.
But it is also one of those cases in which that theory has particular
difficulties to contend with. Were the surrounding country sunk in
the ocean to the level of these blocks, the chain of hills on which
they rest would form only a few widely scattered islands in the midst
of a broad arm of the sea, extending from the Grampian mountains
on the north to the Lammermuir range on the south. The blocks
would thus be exposed to constant danger of being carried off from
the land every time they were floated by the ice, and from the great
declivity of the mountain sides, would, if dropped only fifty or a
hundred yards from the shore, fall into water so deep that no iceber
could ever again pick them up. But there is another difficulty which
the theory has in this case to contend with. On the flat summit of
one of the transition mountains to the south, whose height is usually

* Since published in Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. iv. pp. 315-323.

24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 17,

stated at 2200 feet above the sea, I have found rolled quartz pebbles
and other proofs of aqueous action. ‘There seems thus no doubt that,
supposing the land uniformly depressed, the whole range of the Pent-
lands, and the hill with these boulders on it, along with the others,
must have been submerged. Nowif coast-ice could carry the boulders
up to the top of the hill during its gradual subsidence, it should also
have lifted them off the top of the hill when it was finally submerged.
There seems no reason why the ice should continue to raise the
blocks just so far as the summit of the hill, and then cease to have
this elevatory power.

The theory which I should substitute in place of this most inge-
nious one, is that of unequal elevation in different parts of the land.
That this has taken place to a very considerable extent, the phzeno-
mena of the surrounding district most distinctly prove. We now
find portions of strata, which there is every reason to believe were
once continuous, separated by many hundred feet of vertical eleva-
tion: the workings in the surrounding coal-field prove this most
emphatically. In the memoir on the Mid-Lothian coal-field already
referred to, Mr. Milne enumerates fifty-two slips raising the strata to
the south 5169 feet, and thirty-seven others which raise them 2412
feet in the opposite direction; the most extensive slip having thrown
the strata 400 to 500 feet down to the north. In the coal-fields on the
north of the Firth of Forth slips are no less numerous, but there those
elevating the strata to the north preponderate, producing a difference
of 1164 feet in twelve miles. A single fault in the eastern part of
Fife amounts to 600 feet, and in the Clackmannan coal-field two slips
are known, one of 700, the other of 1230 feet; all of them raising
the strata on the north. The difference of elevation indicated by these
faults seems sufficient to account for boulders having been transported
from what is now a lower to a higher level.

The strongest objection to this mode of explaining the transportal
of boulders from lower to higher levels seems to be, that we see no
traces of unequal elevation on the present surface of the ground. But
this objection leaves out of view the important changes which must
have taken place on the surface since the land was raised above the
ocean, and especially those connected with that process. During
these changes, many inequalities which once existed must have been
smoothed down, covered over, and obliterated, so that scarce a trace
of them now remains ; the effect of the last change being always to
destroy the marks of those that preceded it. But if we suppose that
the elevation of our present continents resembled that which we know
is now taking place in Scandinavia, where one end as it were of a
lever is rising, whilst the other remains stationary or sinks, we may
have a very great amount of unequal elevation without any break in
the continuity of the strata, or any proof of its having occurred being
left on the surface of the dry land. A difference of angular motion
amounting to one degree, producing an inclination so small as to be
imperceptible to the eye, would be sufficient to account for the whole
phenomenon. Were the country between London and Anglesea
subjected to such a twist, we should have that island sunk 20,000 feet

1848.] DAWSON ON COLOURING MATTER OF RED SANDSTONE. 20

below the ocean. To explain the phenomena, therefore, of the ap-
parent transport of boulders from a lower to a higher level, it is only
necessary to suppose that the land during its repeated elevations and
depressions was subjected to a slight angular motion, and the whole
difficulty is removed. Now, setting aside the case of Northern
Europe, where we know from actual measurements that such a move-
ment takes place, and the instances of earthquake elevation in which
it has also been supposed to occur, such a kind of motion seems more
probable than the elevation of whole continental masses in an exactly
vertical direction. To produce the latter, the elevating power must
act with equal intensity below every part of the surface, and everywhere
experience a uniform resistance ; or the one of these powers be every-
where exactly proportioned to the other; neither of them supposi-
tions at all likely to be realized on a mass composed of such various
materials as the crust of the earth.

May 31, 1848.
H. Wedgwood, Esq. and T. Brown, Esq. were elected Fellows.
The following communications were read :—

1. On the Colouring Matter of Red Sandstones and of Greyish and
White Beds associated with them. By Joun Witu1aM Dawson, Esq.

[Communicated by Sir Charles Lyell, V.P.G.S.]

THE appearance at certain points of the series of stratified deposits
of red sandstones and other rocks coloured by the peroxide of iron,
in regions where the older formations contain comparatively few red
beds, is a fact observed in many countries; and in some cases these
red deposits are associated with rocks of more neutral tints, whose
colours appear to be due to chemical changes which have affected
portions of the red sediment, These phenomena, though often no-
ticed, scarcely seem to be thoroughly understood either in reference
to their causes or to the inferences which may be drawn from them.
In the present paper I propose to state some facts in the geology of
Nova Scotia which appear to be connected with the first appearance
of red strata in that country, and which may perhaps admit of a
more general application ; and also to notice some changes now taking
place in recent sedimentary deposits, which may explain the occur-
rence of occasional grey, greenish and white beds in formations whose
prevailing colour is red.

In Nova Scotia, red conglomerates, sandstones and clays predomi-
nate for the first time in the lower part of the carboniferous system ;
and it is to this lower carboniferous series chiefly that the following
remarks are intended to apply, though red beds continue to prevail
im the newer carboniferous deposits and also in an overlying forma-
tion of red sandstone. The red colouring matter, which is the per-
oxide of iron, is in a very fine state of division, having indeed rather

26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 31,
¥,
the aspect of a chemical precipitate than of a substance triturated
mechanically. In the clays and shales it is usually very uniformly
diffused through the mass ; in the sandstones and conglomerates it is
principally contained in the argillaceous matter which occupies the
interstices of the sand and pebbles, and it also stains the surfaces of
these fragments. In addition to the oxide of iron distributed through
the beds, there is in the fissures traversing them, a considerable quan-
tity of the same substaiice in the state of brown hzematite and red
ochre, as if the colourmg matter had been superabundant, or had been
in part removed and accumulated in these vems. Though the greater
part of the thickness of the lower carboniferous series consists of
reddish beds, there are many subordinate strata and minor groups of
beds from which the red oxide of iron is entirely absent. These
uncoloured beds are of three kinds. First, grey and dark sandstones
and shales, consisting of detrital matter similar to that of the red
beds. In some of these scarcely any ferruginous matter is present,
in others there are small quantities of the carbonate and sulphuret of
iron. Where these grey and dark beds appear in any considerable
thickness, they always contain either fossil plants, bituminous matter
or thin seams of coal, or all of these; and even in thin and isolated
layers of this description, vegetable remains are often present. For
reasons to be stated in the sequel, I believe that the presence of this
organic matter is the cause of the absence of red colour in these cases,
and I am also disposed to extend the same explanation to certain
marly beds and blotched and variegated sandstones in which vege-
table matter does not appear. ‘The second class of uncoloured beds
consists of limestones, of which there are several thick beds appearing
in a great number of places. These beds are very rarely coloured by
oxide of iron, and the few that are so contain also a little sand and
other detrital matter. Many of the limestones are made up of un-
broken shells and corals, others show under the microscope that they
consist of shelly fragments, and a few are laminated and crystalline,
and may have been deposited by water holding the bicarbonate of
lime in solution. Limestones of all these three kinds occasionally
contain bituminous matter. These beds of limestone certainly mark
long intervals in the deposition of detrital matter im the localities
where they occur; and though the absence of red oxide of iron may
be in part due to the influence of putrefying organic matter, it also
indicates that the causes which produced the red colour were con-
nected with those which accumulated sand and other detritus, and
were not in active operation during those intervals when shells and
corals flourished. The third kind of beds destitute of red colour
consist of gypsum, which in this formation forms thick and conform-
able strata. These are generally very pure and colourless; a few
however are blackened by bituminous matter, and I have seen one
containing sufficient red oxide of iron to give it a light flesh-colour.
The comparative absence of detrital matter from the gypsum, its con-
stant crystallime texture and its want of fossils, clearly indicate that
it is a chemical deposit ; and the same circumstances, in connection
with its regular stratification and association with marine limestones,

1848.] DAWSON ON COLOURING MATTER OF RED SANDSTONE. 27

render it probable that it originated from the action of free sulphuric
acid on the calcareous matter previously accumulated m the seas of
the period. This view must also be extended to the anhydrite, which
occurs in layers associated with the common gypsum, since its rela-
tions entirely preclude the suppositions that it can be gypsum altered
by heat, or that it can have been produced by acid vapours passing
through limestone; I am not however aware under what circumstances
anhydrite could be chemically deposited from water. In the series
of formations found in Nova Scotia, gypsum as well as red sandstone
appears for the first time in the lower carboniferous series, and it will
soon appear that this simultaneous development on a great scale of
red oxide of iron and sulphuric acid may not be accidental.

We may next endeavour to ascertain the sources from which the
materials of the rocks above-noticed have been derived. In the car-
boniferous period, the Silurian, metamorphic and hypogene rocks
seem already in Nova Scotia to have formed ridges traversing and
separating the basins in which the newer strata were deposited, and
furnishing large quantities of detritus which can easily be recognised
in the carboniferous conglomerates, sandstones and shales, and indeed
constitutes the mass of these beds. The limestones have evidently
resulted from the growth of shells and corals in situ ; and the gypsum
is also of local origin, since it can scarcely be supposed that, at the
period of its formation, the sea was charged either with sulphuric
acid or sulphate of lime, over wide areas, while it is highly probable
that these substances, if brought from the land or the bottom of the
sea, would produce beds of gypsum in the vicinity of the places whence
they were derived. It thus appears that the materials of the lower
carboniferous rocks have in general been obtained from the older
formations the remains of which are still seen in their vicinity, and
we may therefore expect to find, in the same older formations, the
sources of the red colouring matter. If in accordance with this view
- we examine the Silurian and metamorphic rocks, it at once becomes
apparent that the red oxide of iron cannot be attributed to the de-
gradation of red-coloured rocks, since these form a very trifling pro-
portion of the older formations. Neither can this colouring matter
be attributed to the mechanical trituration of iron ores, since though
large deposits of specular iron ore exist in the Silurian system, this
mineral is too hard and intractable to have furnished the finely-divided
colouring matter of the red sandstones and shales. It is also
worthy of notice, in reference to this iron ore of the Silurian system,
that the greater part of it occurs in the form of thick beds, abounding
in fossil shells, and which seem to have been produced by the depo-
sition of iron ore in the state of sand or scales derived from the waste
of older deposits; it cannot therefore have been, at the time of the
formation of the carboniferous strata, in a state very different from
that in which it is at present found. The remainder of the peroxide
of iron of the Silurian system occurs in irregular veins traversing
altered rocks, and is generally crystalline, though in some places ac-
companied by earthy red ore capable of having acted as a colouring
matter. The only other form in which large quantities of iron occur

28 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socieTy. [May 31,

in the Silurian and metamorphic rocks, is that of the bisulphuret of
iron or iron pyrites, which is very abundantly contained in these
rocks, and to the decomposition of which I believe the red colours of
the derived deposits should be mainly attributed.

It can scarcely be unfair to assume that the immense masses of
the older formations which have been worn down to furnish the ma-
terials of the carboniferous beds, contained proportionally as large
quantities of iron pyrites as those portions which remain. We may
therefore proceed to inquire respecting the changes which this mine-
ral probably suffered, before or during the degradation of these rocks.
Under ordinary atmospheric influences, iron pyrites passes by oxida-
tion into sulphate of iron and hydrous peroxide of iron, and much of
it is now, and probably has been im all past periods, undergoing this
change. Under the influence of heat, however, it is capable of under-
going other modifications, of more importance for our present purpose.
The formations in which the pyrites im question is contained, have
been greatly changed by igneous agents before the carboniferous pe-
riod ; and under such influences this mineral may have been changed
in three ways. First, in the deeper parts of the deposits it may have
remained chemically unaltered, but may have assumed a more cry-
stalline structure or aggregated itself into grains, masses and veins, as
it now appears in the remaining portions of the metamorphosed de-
posits. Secondly, in other circumstances, its sulphur might be sub-
limed, the iron remaining buried in the altered rocks, or, in low states
of oxidation, entering into the composition of molten masses. We
have no evidence of the occurrence of this change at the period in
question, though it probably occurs in many modern volcanos.
Thirdly, in the superficial parts of the deposits it would be converted
into peroxide of iron and sulphuric acid, or in parts less near the
surface, into oxides of iron and sulphuretted hydrogen, and the latter
might be subsequently oxidized and converted into sulphuric acid, in
passing through moist fissures*. Such processes, especially if car-
ried on in the presence of water, would produce large quantities of
the peroxide of iron, and would probably stain with it all the super-
ficial parts of the deposits subjected to their influence. It is not
always easy to understand the precise effects which may be produced
in nature on the large scale by the application even of familiar che-
mical agents ; but in this case, | think the results of the artificial oxi-
dation of iron pyrites, by the combined influences of heat and water
or heat and air, are sufficient to convince any person who can perform
even a few simple experiments upon this mineral, or clays in which it
is contained, that these processes are at least competent to produce
the required effects.

It is evident that the oxide of iron produced in the manner above
stated, would naturally accompany the detrital deposits of the period,
and it is even possible that the chemical changes which produced it
would be accompanied by mechanical disturbances tending to produce
large quantities of fragmentary matter. It is also apparent that the
sulphuric acid resulting from the decomposition of pyrites would

* This may be imitated by passing the gas through moist porous substances.

1848.] DAWSON ON COLOURING MATTER OF RED SANDSTONE. 29

speedily find its way to the sea, or might even in some cases be pro-
duced in its bottom, and coming into contact with calcareous matter
accumulated by shell-fish and madrepores, would be deposited, in com-
bination with lime, in the form of gypsum. There might thus in
the seas of the carboniferous period be alternations of organic accu-
mulation and detrital and chemical deposition, producing a formation
precisely corresponding with the lower carboniferous series of Nova
Scotia, as described in the beginning of this paper.

I do not so far overrate the force of the above remarks, as to sup-
pose that they prove that the oxidation of iron pyrites has been the
sole cause of the red colours of sedimentary deposits. They may
however lead geologists to inquire if any production of red oxide of
iron attends the formation of sulphuric acid in modern volcanic re-
gions,— if in other countries the first appearance of red sandstones and
shales is attended with the presence of gypsum or other sulphates, and
if the materials of the red beds have been derived from rocks con-
taining iron pyrites. If these circumstances are of general occurrence,
they may perhaps show that the cause above referred to is also
general.

In the lower carboniferous series of Nova Scotia, there are, as be-
fore stated, grey, dark and white beds interstratified with red rocks
forming the mass of the deposit; and though the sediment forming
these has no doubt in many instances been originally uncoloured,
there are other instances in which they appear to have consisted of
red sediment deprived of its colour by chemical agents after its depo-
sition. This may have been effected by the agency of organic matter
in two ways, the first of which applies more especially to marine, the
second to freshwater deposits.

The first consists in a reversal of the process above described, or
in the conversion of oxide of iron into sulphuret of the metal. I
shortly referred to this change in a paper sent to the Geological So-
ciety in 1845, but did not state the facts on which my views were
founded. My attention was first directed to this process by observing
it actually in progress in the harbour of Pictou. This harbour re-
ceives the waters of three rivers and several smaller streams, which
in times of flood carry into it large quantities of reddish mud, which
sometimes discolours the whole surface. This mud, with similar sedi-
ment from the shores of the harbour, is deposited in the bottom, and
there undergoes a remarkable change of colour. A portion of old
mud recently taken from the bottom is of a dark grey colour, and
emits a strong smell of sulphuretted hydrogen. When dried it loses
this odour, and its colour is a pure grey without any trace of red.
If a piece of the dried mud be heated to incipient redness, it emits a
sulphurous odour, and at once resumes the red colour which belonged
to the sediment before it was deposited. It thus appears that the
iron of the red clay has entered into combination with sulphur, and
this is probably obtained from the sulphates contained in the sea-
water, by the deoxidizing influence of decaying vegetable matter, the
greater part of which seems to be furnished by the eel grass (Zostera
marina), Which grows abundantly on the mud flats. It is evident

30 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 31,

that this modern deposit is quite analogous to many grey beds of
great antiquity, in which sulphuret of iron is mixed with organic
matter, and there can be little danger im inferring that the causes in
both cases are the same. I may mention, that in some parts of the
deposit forming in Pictou harbour, the vegetable matter which has
caused the change of colour is so completely decomposed that no
visible fragments of it remain. I may also notice in passing, that
this mud contains vast numbers of the siliceous coverings of infusoria.

Another modern cause of change of colour in red sands and clays,
is the action of acids produced in the putrefaction and decay of moist
vegetable matter. This is the usual cause of the whiteness of the
subsoils of peat bogs and swamps, and in such places the oxide of iron
is often redeposited at the outlet where surplus water escapes from
the bog. This process also probably prevailed extensively im the
freshwater deposits of former periods, and may have changed the
colours of clays and sands, and have collected their colouring matter
in bands and nodules of carbonate and hydrous peroxide of iron.
Beds bleached in this way of course do not resume their colour when
heated.

It is evident that the formation of red sediment and its partial
decoloration may have frequently alternated in the same locality, or
have occurred at the same time in neighbouring localities ; and when
viewed in this way, they possess some interest independently of the
explanation of the colours of rocks. First, they satisfactorily account
for the rarity of fossils in red beds ; since both the red oxide of iron
and sulphuric acid, when present in the waters, must have been un-
favourable to aquatic life; and conversely, wherever organic matter
either terrestrial or marine could accumulate, the red colour would be
partially removed. Secondly, they show the cause of the almost con-
stant association of large quantities of coal and other vegetable re-
mains with the carbonate and sulphuret of iron. Thirdly, they may
in some cases serve to distinguish marine from freshwater deposits ;
since on the above view, sulphurets would be formed in large quan-
tity where sea water had access to the beds in which vegetable or
animal matter was decaying, while carbonates would prevail where
fresh water only was present. In some cases, however, the sulphates
afforded by springs, or even by river water, might produce a suffi-
ciency of sulphurets to invalidate such inferences. Fourthly, the
occurrence of grey beds and patches in red formations may often
indicate the former existence of fossils whose forms have perished ;
and the quantities of iron pyrites found in some ancient non-fossilife-
rous beds may possibly be an indication of the same kind.

ee ee

2. Remarks upon the Structure of the Calamite. By Joun S. Dawes,
Esq., F.G.S., President of the Lit. & Phil. Soc. of Birmingham.

[Since this paper was read to the Society, Mr. Dawes has made some
further observations upon the structure of this fossil, and its full
publication is therefore deferred at his request. |

1848. | BRODIE ON THE DRAGON-FLY. 31

Mr. Dawes stated, that specimens he had obtained clearly showed
that the Calamite as usually met with exhibits merely the interior
shape of the woody part of the plant, the supposed leaf-scars at the
articulations being the fractured portions of certain large rays of mu-
riform tissue which pass through the ligneous system in a similar
manner to what has been observed in the pseudo-vascular sheath of
Stigmaria, these rays being connected with verticillate areolze met with
on the exterior of the fossil. The ligneous portion is found i some
specimens to occupy about one-half of the diameter, although usually
much less. It consists of tubular tissue, which although distinctly
scalariform, has nevertheless in the transverse section a radiated
structure together with the concentric rings of Exogens ; and in addi-
tion to the leaf-cords already mentioned, there are numerous fine
medullary rays which either alternate with, or intervene, every second
or third row of the ligneous or scalariform tissue. He also men-
tioned, that occasionally the strize upon these vessels become reticu-
lated, so as to resemble in some respects the Pinites ; and again, that
there appears to be a further affinity with the latter fossils, and with
the Coniferze generally, for these peculiar markings are usually to be
observed only in the direction of the ray. The phragmata at the
joints, which have been considered by some writers as probably re-
presenting the thickness of the wood, he considers now prove to be
merely thin lateral inward extensions of the ligneous system, the
converging lines being a continuation of the perpendicular ribs, and
having a similar origin ; consequently the articulations will not be ob-
served upon the exterior of the plant. With respect to the supposed
fistular character of the stem, Mr. Dawes states that he is in pos-
session of sufficient evidence to prove not only that such was not the
case, but that, in addition to cellular tissue, there are also indications
of vascular bundles within the central column. The specimens he
has hitherto met with retaining these tissues are very imperfect, but
there are appearances in the arrangement which he regards as show-
ing an affinity with Endogens. This he says we might have been
led to expect from certain external characters observed by Messrs.
Lindley and Hutton; and thus in all probability these interesting
plants of the carboniferous epoch will, he thinks, prove to be a link
connecting in some measure the three great classes of the vegetable
kingdom.

3. Notice on the Discovery of a DRAGON-FLY and a new species of
Leprouepis 77 the Upper Lias near CHELTENHAM, with a few

remarks on that Formation in GLOUCESTERSHIRE. By the Rev.
P. B. Bronig, M.A., F.G.S.

As I have already described the position and structure of the upper
lias and its organic contents in Gloucestershire*, my chief object in
the present brief communication is to announce the occurrence of a

* History of the Fossil Insects in the Secondary Rocks of England, p. 55, ef seg.

32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 31,

nearly perfect Libellula and a new species of Leptolepis in that de-
posit, for an account of which I am indebted to the kindness of Mr.
Westwood and Sir Philip Egerton. +

The upper lias in Gloucestershire is of considerable extent and
thickness, and may be traced along the lower escarpments of the
Cotswolds between the inferior pale and the marlstone; owing how-
ever to the few sections exposed, the various fossils which it affords
have been chiefly obtained from one particular locality. It also
caps detached outliers a few miles from this range, and if a line
be drawn from the summit of any one of them to a parallel point in
the opposite hills, the strata will be found to correspond ; and hence
we may infer that they were formerly attached to the main chain, the
intervening space having been subsequently denuded, though there
are few traces of liassic boulders in the adjacent valley. In the two
outliers at Churchdown and Robinswood Hill near Gloucester, the
upper lias is comparatively thin, the shale resting conformably on the
marlstone, scarcely averaging eight feet, and the loose pieces of the
* fish-bed,” not exceeding a few inches, but contaming the usual and
characteristic fossils*. I have not been able to detect any traces of
this stratum further south ; at least, its outcrop is not anywhere seen ;
although the marlstone is largely developed in the neighbourhood of
Wotton-under-edge, and the lower lias, especially the “insect lime-
stone,’ extends over a considerable portion of the vale, and contains
some beautiful portions of insects, particularly wings allied apparently
to Phryganea.

At Dumbleton, twelve miles north-east of Cheltenham, where an-
other and larger outlier is exposed, the upper lias shales are about
150 feet thick, and include an irregular band of limestone, locally
termed ‘the fish-bed,’’? above alluded to, which varies from four to
fifteen inches in thickness. It occurs near the lower part of the shale,
running at irregular intervals, and here and there forming rounded
blocks of some size. The outer surface is soft and of a yellow colour,
but towards the interior it becomes hard and assumes a blue tinge.
It has an irregular fracture when dry, and as it is readily acted upon
by frost, it does not make a good building-stone, though it would
burn into lime if required. The clay contains a great many casts of
Ammonites and other shells, but the best-preserved and remarkable
fossils are confined to this limestone. Of these the insects are per-
haps most worthy of notice, though hitherto confined chiefly to
single wings and elytra, to which the fine specimen about to be de-
scribed forms at present a unique exception, and is, as far as I am
aware, the first nearly perfect Neuropterous insect found in this
country.

Mr. Westwood observes, that “‘it possesses an arrangement of the
wing-veins differing from that of any English species, and also from
any foreign species known to me; but it comes nearest to the small
British Ibellule forming the genus Diplaw. The wings are broad
and nearly equal. The third and fourth veins of the upper wings
are curved towards the inner margin near the base. The stigmata are

* See Mr. Buckman’s paper, Proc. Geol. Soc. vol. iv. part i. p. 211.

1848. | BRODIE ON A FOSSIL DRAGON-FLY. 33

rhomboidal. The expansion of the fore-wings is about 24 inches,
while the hind-wings have the anal area very slightly developed, much
less so even than in our English and far less so than in many exotic
species. The expanse of each wing is 73‘; inches ; the breadth of the
upper wings 42 inch, the breadth of the under wings #; inch. The
veins are most beautifully perfect, and are better displayed as the
specimen is lying in the matrix with its four wings expanded, like
those of the same family from Solenhofen, and must evidently have
died under circumstances highly favourable to its preservation. But
in order to understand the peculiarity of this fossil Lzbel/ula, it will
be necessary to enter into a little detail as to the general distribution
of the veining of the wings in the family to which it belongs ; a point
which has been hitherto almost entirely neglected.

“ Taking Aishna maculatissima (Latr.) (grandis, Donovan), one of
the largest and commonest species of Libellulide, as a good type, we
perceive the arrangement of the chief veins of the FORE-wINGs
(fig. B) to be as follows :—

“<1. A subcostal vein extending from the base, nearly parallel with
the fore-margin for half its length, where it joins the margin at an
angle. .

«2. A median vein (behind the subcostal) which extends from the
base to the tip of the wing, a small portion of the space between it
and the fore-margin being occupied, near the tip of the wing, with
the oblong black stigma.

“3. A submedian vein, extending from the base to the hind-margin
of the wing, about one-third of its length from the tip.

«4, A posterior vein which extends from the base to the hind-mar-
gin of the wing at about one-third of its length from the base.

** Between the median and submedian veins, there is a short connect-
ing vein at about the distance of one-third of an inch from the base
of the wing, and from the middle of this connecting vein a long vein (*)
is emitted, the branches of which occupy all the space at the hinder
extremity of the wing between the median and submedian veins.
There is also emitted a short oblique vein (**) which soon again joins
the submedian vein ; the space between them forming a long narrow
(characteristic) triangle (+).

* T will not here stop to inquire whether the veins emitted from this
short transverse connecting vein are to be considered as branches of
the median or of the submedian vein, but I believe them to be-
long to the former. At a distance of about half an inch from
the base of the wing, we see another characteristic triangle (++)
(extending between the submedian and posterior veins), the apex of
this second triangle joining the apex of the former one, and pointing
to the tip of the wing. The short base of this triangle is formed by
an oblique vein (0) between the submedian and posterior veins. We
also see a vein (000) branching off from that angle of the second tri-
angle which is towards the hinder margin of the wing, and which ex-
tends almost parallel with the extremity of the posterior vein (00).
The hind-wing differs in no respect from the fore-wing in the arrange-

VOL. V.—PART I, D

34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 31,

ment of the veins, but the space between the posterior vein and the
anal angle of the hind-wing is greatly enlarged.

“Ifthe above description be compared with the veining of the fore-
wing (fig. c) in the equally common Libellula depressa, we find the
same general arrangement, as far as the subcostal, median and subme-
dian veins, and the branches between the two latter are concerned. We
also see the second characteristic triangle (++) behind the submedian
vein, with one of its angles united to the extreme angle of the first
elongated triangle (+), but here the second triangle is shortened, and
its apex instead of pointing to the tip of the wing points to the hind-
margin; arising from this apex we see the two curved veins (00 and 000)
which unite with the hind-margin of the wing about halfway between
the tip of the submedian vein and the base. In sina I have regarded
these two curved veins as the extremity of the posterior vein and a
branch of it; but in Libellula depressa the posterior vein (p) is very
short, and extends only to the basal angle of the second triangle ;
whilst if we regard the two curved veins above alluded to as por-
tions of the same posterior vei, we might at first be led to believe
that the middle part of this vem had become obsolete ; whereas I be-
lieve we must from analogy look for it in some of the small veinlets
(composing hexagonal cells) between the base of the wing and the
transverse vein forming the side of the second triangle nearest to the
base of the wing. This is I thmk rendered quite evident by tracing
the veins of the hind-wings connected with these triangles in L. de-
pressa, where we see precisely the same general arrangement as in
Aishna maculatissima.

“‘ Now the new fossil insect has an arrangement of the veins in con-
nection with these characteristic triangles quite different from either
of the arrangements above described, and which are found in the
whole of our Libellulide (as separated from the Agriones, &c.). The
subcostal and median veins are in their normal position, but in the
fore-wings (A*) the submedian is greatly deflexed, at about one-sixth
of an inch from the base, whereby the first elongated triangle (+),
which I have above described as extending longitudinally from the
little transverse vein, between the median and submedian vein, along
the latter, is obliquely deflexed, so as almost exactly to represent the
second triangle in Libellula depressa. The posterior vein is also de-
flexed, whereby the smaller veins in connection therewith are thrown
so far out of their places that the second triangle (++) takes an oblong-
quadrate form. The confusion is still greater in the hind-wings (A +),
for here the first elongated triangle (+) occurs in its usual longitudinal
form ; but there is connected with it between its posterior apical half
and the deflexed part of the submedian vein, a regular, nearly equal-
sided triangle (+*), which, from being posteriorly bounded by the sub-
median vein, I consider only as analogically representing a portion of
the ordinarily narrow elongated first triangle ; whilst the second tri-
angle, which typically occurs between the submedian and posterior
velis, or 1S even sometimes apparent posterior to the posterior vein,
here becomes an oblique oblong-quadrate cell (++), between which and

/
See
e3
S&S a otk
3
Ju b are
fe...
At \
sib
(@)
Te

C
C.. : aes en pines sa
sube \ gE a | |
Tile : re
oe orn Peso Marcas

i STAY
eee
pi oe :

LIBELLULA (HETEROPHLEBIA) DISLOCATA.

1848. | ‘BRODIE ON A FOSSIL DRAGON-FLY. 35

the anal margin of the hind-wing are only three rows of cells in con-
sequence of this part of the wing being comparatively so very narrow.

*« As these tedious details can only be understood by figures, I have
given enlarged outlines of the wings of the three species above de-
seribed. See Pl. ii. figs. A*, At, B and C.”

The head unfortunately is so shattered that it does not furnish any
distinctive characters, and hence, from the want of the more charac-
teristic organs, it will be difficult to determine whether it strictly be-
longs to any of the numerous subgenera lately separated from Libel-
lula by Rambun and Leach. As the extreme segments are not visible,
it is impossible to discover the length of the abdomen or the form of
the anal appendages. The specimen appears to be a female. The
eyes are not seen, but the basal joints of one of the antennee may be
observed attached to the head. One leg is very perfect, even display-
ing the claws. Although this fossil appears to approach nearest to
the genus Diplax, Mr. Westwood considers that it will be better to
adopt Libellula as the generic title: while the peculiar veiming of the
wings will form the ground for a provisional subgeneric one, which
he names Heterophlebia. Hence I propose, provisionally, to name
it LipeLtyuLa (Linn.) HereropHiesia pisLtocata (Brodie)*,
PY.) ui

According to Mr. Westwood, the wing figured in my work on
‘Fossil Insects,’ pl. 8. fig. 2, is not an Agrion as there supposed,
but belongs to the same species as the one above described. He is
also of opinion that fig. 8. pl. 10. is the base of the fore-wing of an
allied species of gigantic size, measuring as much as seven inches in
expanse. Fig. 4. pl. 8. may also probably belong to the same.

A few sepize, small crustacea and shells accompany these remains
of insects, and imperfect specimens of Leptolepis are abundant, but
they are rarely met with entire. Sir Philip Egerton has been good
enough to favour me with the following description of this fish :—

** LEPTOLEPIS CONCENTRICUS, Egerton.

“This distinct and well-marked species of Leptolepis was discovered
by the Rev. P. B. Brodie+ in the beds of the upper lias at Dumble-
ton in the county of Gloucester. The first specimens forwarded for
examination contained a few scales, which, from their circular form
and concentric ornament, were considered by some to have belonged
to a fish of the Cycloid order; an error in which the zealous disco-
verer did not participate, as he attributed them to the proper genus.
On comparing them with the scales of these fishes already known, it
appeared impossible to refer them to any species hitherto described ;
I therefore proposed the specific designation concentricus (which Mr.
Brodie has adopted) in reference to their most prominent character.
This term is not altogether appropriate, for the scales of all the spe-

* Mr. Ingpen, Vice-President of the Entomological Society, has kindly given
me several useful hints in the latter part of the description of this beantiful fossil.

+ My friend the Rev. C. Murley was the first person who noticed the remains

of fishes in the upper lias at Dumbleton, and he drew my attention to them some
years ago.—P. B. B.
D2

36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociIETy. [May 31,

cies of Leptolepis present the same features. It must therefore be
considered in reference only to degree, since in Mr. Brodie’s species
the sculpturing on the enamelled surface is visible to the unassisted
eye, while in the other species a powerful magnifier is required to detect
it. The comparative thickness of the scales is perhaps a more im-
portant character, for this at once eliminates them from every other
species of Leptolepis, and even invalidates, to a certain extent, the ge-
neric title. The subsequent discovery of more perfect specimens (also
submitted to me by Mr. Brodie) has enabled me to confirm the ge-
neric identity and specific differences founded on the former specimens,
as also to complete in detail the characters of the species.

“The most perfect specimen shows the head and two-thirds of the
body, with the position of the ventral and anal fins; another fortu-
nately completes the subject by exhibiting the posterior half of the
fish, with the dorsal, ventral and anal fins. This species is about the
same length as its nearest ally, Leptolepis Bronni, viz. between three
and four inches from the snout to the extremity of the tail. The
head, however, is proportionally smaller, bemg less than a fourth,
whereas in the former species it is more than a fourth of the entire
length. The other dimensions of the head are also smaller, while
the depth of the body immediately behind the thoracic cincture is
greater ; consequently the contour of the body is more regularly fusi-
form than in Leptolepis Bronni, or in any other species of the genus.
The opercular and other bones of the head are smooth and lus-
trous, without any tracery or ornament except the lines of growth.
The vertebral column is robust and composed of about thirty-six
vertebrae. "The hemapophyses of the six terminal bones are strong
and flattened for the support of the rays of the caudal fin. The pec-
toral fins are of mediocre size, the number of rays not being distin-
guishable. The ventrals are situate about midway, and are opposed
to the dorsal fin, which contains about a dozen rays. The caudal fin
is powerful and has this remarkable structure: the rays of the upper
lobe are principally supported by the terminal vertebreze, a few short
ones only being attached to the penultimate and antepenultimate apo-
physes; while in the inferior lobe the rays are supported by the pro-
cesses of the six terminal bones of the column, which are thickened
and compressed to give a firmer and broader attachment for this organ.
This arrangement of the parts gives a somewhat heterocercal air to
the caudal extremity, which also obtains in other species of this genus
found in the lias, viz. Leptolepis Bronni, caudalis, filipennis, and an
undescribed species I have from the lias of Courcy in France. The
zeal of collectors and the progress of modern research have added so
largely to the species of many of the genera of fossil fishes, that it
will soon be found necessary to eliminate some of the aberrant forms
under new generic or subgeneric characters. Should the genus
Leptolepis come into this category, the form of tail above-described
offers an easily appreciable and appropriate feature on which to found
a subgeneric distinction...”

I have lately traced the upper lias in the south-eastern division of

1848.] MANTELL ON ORGANIC REMAINS IN THE WEALDEN. og

Somersetshire, where it occupies the same relative position, retains
the same mineralogical character, and yields identical fossils. As
might be expected, however, in another and more distant portion of
the series, there are some genera and several species which have not
yet been found in Gloucestershire: these will, I hope, shortly be de-
scribed by Mr. Moore of Ilminster, their discoverer, whose fine local
collection and zealous labours have already brought to light many
interesting palzeontological and strategraphical facts of novelty and
value.

June 14, 1848.
The following communications were read :—

1. A brief Notice of Organic Remains recently discovered in the
Wealden Formation. By GipEoN ALGERNON MANTELL, Esq.,
LL.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., Vice-President of the Geological Society.

As our knowledge of the zoology and botany of the islands and con-
tinents that flourished during the formation of the secondary strata,
can only be extended by a diligent examination of the organic remains
that may be discovered from time to time, it appears to me desirable
occasionally to record, however briefly, the additions made to the
fossil fauna and flora of the Wealden, in the hope of ultimately ac-
quiring data that will afford a satisfactory elucidation of that remark-
able geological epoch, “‘The Age of Reptiles ;’”>—in which the verte-
brated animals that inhabited the land, the air, and the waters, were,
with the exception of fishes, almost exclusively of the reptilian type
of organization. I therefore submit to the Society the following con-
cise account of the Wealden fossils that have either come under my
immediate notice, or of which I have received information from my
correspondents, since my last communication on this subject.

Flora of the Wealden.—The additions to the Wealden flora from
my own researches consist only of a few more instructive examples of
Clathraria and Endogenites than any previously obtained. Speci-
mens of the stem of Clathraria Lyellii, bearing the characteristic
cicatrices formed by the attachment and subsequent separation of the
petioles or leaf-stalks, have been found at Hastings, at Brook Point
in the Isle of Wight, and in the Ridgway cutting near Weymouth.
A water-worn fragment of a stem of Clathraria, which I picked up
on the sea-shore at Brook Bay, was so much indurated as to render
it probable that the internal organization of the original was preserved ;
but sliced and polished sections made in various directions, when
examined under the microscope, only presented such a general indi-
cation of the structure as to enable our eminent botanist, Dr. Robert
Brown, to pronounce that the essential characters of the Cycadeacee
were present, but no close affinity to any known recent genera could
be detected.

38 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

A specimen of the internal part of the stem of Endogenites erosa,
collected from the same locality, appeared to be solid throughout,
and therefore likely to retain the internal structure; but sections
made by the lapidary, under Dr. Brown’s direction, only showed that
the general form and arrangement of the bundles of vascular tissue
preserved by mineralization, were more analogous to those which cha-
racterize the Cycadeacee than to any other existing plants.

Five or six small cones, of the size of the juli of the larch, and
apparently referable to the same species of Abies or Pinus as those
found in the greensand of Kent*, have been obtained from the
Wealden sands and limestones that emerge on the sea-shore at
Hastings and St. Leonard’s, and in Sandown Bay in the Isle of
Wight; and in each of these localities these fossil fruits were collo-
cated with bones of the Iguanodon and other reptiles.

But although the Wealden of England has proved so barren, that
of the North of Germany has yielded a rich harvest to the industry
and talents of my friend Dr. Wilhelm Dunker, of Hesse Cassel, who
has added to its flora upwards of sixty species of plants ; and he in-
forms me that he has discovered several new ones since the publica-
tion of his beautiful work+. Of these, thirty species, belonging to
seven genera, are Ferns, and twelve are referable to Cycadee or Za-
mie. The British Wealden plants, Endogenites erosa, Sphenopteris
Mantel, Carpolithus Mantelli, and some species of Thuytes or
Cupressites, apparently identical with those from Heathfield in
Sussex, occur in the same formation in Germany.

The beautiful figures and accurate descriptions of all these plants
in Dr. Dunker’s work render it unnecessary to particularize them; I
will only remark, that the extensive coal-field of Hanover, which was
long since identified with the Wealden by M. Roemer, and the
numerous plants discovered by Dr. Dunker, prove that the countries
of whose debris the Wealden deposits are composed, were clothed
with a luxuriant and varied flora, of which arborescent ferns, cycadee,
and coniferous trees, were the most characteristic and predominant
forms.

Fauna of the Wealden.—Of the shells of mollusks, no new species
have I believe been detected in England; but the Wealden of Ger-
many has proved as rich in fossils of this class as in vegetables.

Dr. Dunker enumerates upwards of 100 species, comprising UnioT,
5 species ; Cyrena, 37 species ; Cyclas, 4 species ; Corbula, 4 species ;
Melania, 9 species ; Paludina, 8 species ; Limnea and Planorbis, of
each | species; and of Ostrea, Exogyra, Avicula, Modiola, Mytilus,
Turritella, and Neritina, of each 1 species §.

Crustaceans.—These consist exclusively of the shields or cases
of Cyprides and Estheria\|, of which four new species have been

* Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol. ii. p. 54.

+t Monographie der Norddeutschen Wealdenbildung, 1846.

~ It may be worthy of remark, that Mr. Barlow, C.E., has discovered specimens

of Unio Valdensis (previously known only in the Isle of Wight), in the Wealden of
Sussex and Kent.

§ See Dr. Dunker’s Monographie der Norddeutschen Wealdenbildung.
|| Of Rippell, ibid. pl. 13. fig. 33, p. 59.

M be

err ee ee

Quart. Geol. Journ. VolV. PL UL

highly magnitted

nat. S1Ze

C.A.Mantell det. SJ De C Sowerby se.

1848.] MANTELL ON ORGANIC REMAINS IN THE WEALDEN. 39

foundinGermany. The British fossil Cyprides, first made known by
Dr. Fitton, also occur in the Wealden of the North of Germany. The
Isopodous crustaceans discovered by Mr. Brodie in the Vale of War-
dour have not been found on the continent.

Insects.—To the list of Wealden insects given by the Rev. P. B.
Brodie in his interesting work*, I can add no new species ; but I am
able to corroborate his account of the occurrence of insects in the
freshwater strata above the oolite in Buckinghamshire ; my friend
the Rev. J. B. Reade, and myself, having collected a few specimens
from the quarries between Stone and Hartwell. None of these are
sufficiently perfect to require remark, with the exception of two frag-
ments of wings, apparently of coleopterous insects, which appear to
differ from any figured and described by Mr. Brodie ; and as fossils
of this kind are very rare, and difficult of detection, I am desirous of
preserving faithful representations of these fragile relics. They are
accurately figured in the annexed drawings.

Prats III. fig. 1. Fragments of the membranous wing of a small

Coleopterous (?) insect, natural size.

Fig. 2. The same, magnified.

Figs. 3, 4, 5. Portions of the same, highly magnified.

Fig. 6. Fragment of another wing, highly magnified.

A few fragments of the elytra of Coleoptera have been observed in
the Wealden clays and shales laid bare by the railway-works between
Tunbridge and Maidstone.

Fishes.—The Wealden of Germany has yielded one species of
Enchodus, two new species of Hybodus, two of Lepidotus, one of
Spherodus, and one of Gyrodust+. The scales and teeth of the two
well-known British species of Lepidotus (L. Fittoni and L. Mantelli
of Agassiz) appear to be as abundant in Germany as in the S8.E. of
England. Several splendid examples of the last-named fishes have
recently been collected from the rocks exposed along the shore at
Hastings, some of which are in the possession of Dr. Harwood of St.
Leonard’s, and of Mr. Moore of the former place. The entire cranium
covered with its plates, the jaws with teeth, and the body enveloped
in its rich cuirass of scales, are preserved. Some portions I examined
must have belonged to fishes ten or twelve feet in length.

The jaws with teeth, and the crania of Hybodi, as large as the
H. basanus from the greensand of the Isle of Wight, described by
Sir P. Egerton {, have also been obtained. I have not been able to
examine these Ichthyolites with the attention necessary to speak posi-
tively as to the species, but I have little doubt that some of them be-
long to the greensand Hydbodus; and in fact, the occurrence of several
Wealden plants and reptiles in that division of the cretaceous forma-
tion, renders it highly probable that similar fishes will be found in
both series of deposits.

Reptiles. —Of the colossal terrestrial and aquatic Saurians, whose

* A History of the Fossil Insects of England.

+ Mon. Nord. Wealden. p. 62.
~ Geol. Journal, vol. i. p. 197.

40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

remains are so abundant in some of the Wealden strata, numerous
detached bones of enormous size have been found at Hastings and
St. Leonard’s, and in Sandown and Brook Bays in the Isle of Wight ;
some specimens have also been obtained from the Wealden at Ridg-
way, by Mr. Shipp of Blandford. The specimens I have examined
are, with but very few exceptions, referable to the genera Iguanodon,
Hyleosaurus, Megalosaurus, Streptospondylus(?), Pecilopleuron(?),
Goniopholis, and Cetiosaurus (°).

Numerous fragments of the bones and carapaces of Chelonians
have also been obtained, especially of the remarkable Wealden Tri-
onyx, the 7. Bakewelli.

It would be irrelevant to my present object to offer a detailed ac-
count of the fossils thus briefly noticed, and I will simply enume-
rate some of them, as exemplifying the general character of the re-
mains of this class to be met with, along those parts of the coasts of
Sussex and the Isle of Wight above-mentioned.

Plesiosaurus: Vertebree. Hastings, and Brook Bay.

Cetiosaurus (?): Caudal and sacral vertebree. Hastings, and Brook
Bay.
ane (?): Vertebree. Isle of Wight.

Streptospondylus(?): Cervical and dorsal vertebrze of large size.
Isle of Wight, and Tilgate Forest.

Hyleosaurus: Vertebree and dermal bones. Hastings, and Brook
Bay.

Goniopholis: Teeth. Hastings, Isle of Wight, and N. of Germany.
: Vertebree, and a portion of the cranium (?).

Macrorhynchus: The cranium of a reptile of the gavial type, thus
named by Dr. Dunker from its extremely elongated snout, has been
found in the Wealden of Germany near Buckeberg*.

Iguanodon.—The remains of this genus of herbivorous terrestrial
reptiles are more abundant in the Wealden strata of the south-east
of England and of the Isle of Wight, than those of any of the other
saurians. Among the specimens found last year in Brook Bay were
two femora, each of which when entire must have been four feet in
length ; dorsal vertebree five and a half inches in the antero-posterior
diameter; several teeth ; dermal tubercles or horns; ungueal bones of.
a more depressed form than those in the Maidstone specimen ; frag-
ments of the sacrum, and of ribs of large size, &c.

At Hastings numerous bones have been collected during the last
two years, having for the most part been washed out of the ledges of
rock by the action of the waves, the agency by which almost all the
bones from this locality, and from the Isle of Wight, are brought to
view. In the cabinets of Dr. Harwood, Mr. Moore, and other local
collectors, I have seen bones of the Iguanodon of great magnitude.
The lower extremity of a femur measures forty-one inches in cireum-
ference at the condyles, and exceeds in magnitude by nearly one-third

* Mon. Norddeutschen Wealden. tab. 20. Another genus of Saurians has also
been proposed by Meyer, from part of a vertebral column with ribs from near
Harrel, and named Pholidosaurus.—Ibid. p. 71, tab. 17, 18, 19.

1848.] MANTELL ON ORGANIC REMAINS IN THE WEALDEN. 41

the largest example in the British Museum. ‘Teeth of this reptile
are very rarely found at Hastings.

Upper and lower jaw of the Iguanodon.—But the specimen of the
highest interest that has been lately discovered is a considerable por-
tion of the lower jaw of an adult Iguanodon with three successional
teeth in place, obtamed from a quarry in Tilgate Forest by Capt.
Lambart Brickenden, F.G.S., to whose liberality and ardent love of
science I am indebted for it. This fossil consists of the right den-
tary and opercular bones; it is twenty-one inches long, and when
perfect must have been two feet in length. According to the pro-
portions of the maxillary elements in the Iguana, the entire length of
the jaw to which this specimen belonged was four feet. Two succes-
sional teeth, and vestiges of a third, remain in their natural situation,
within the internal alveolar parapet ; and there are sockets, or rather
excavations, for nineteen or twenty mature teeth in the outer wall of
the alveolar process. The implantation of the teeth was intermediate
between the pleurodont and thecodont types.

As this specimen is the first unequivocal example of the lower jaw
of an Iguanodon hitherto known, it is of the highest interest in a
paleeontological point of view. <A fragment of the upper jaw—the
anterior part of the left maxillary bone—discovered by me, and now
in the British Museum, interpreted by the aid afforded by this recent
acquisition, has enabled me, with the valuable assistance of that emi-
nent comparative anatomist, Dr. A. G. Melville, to obtain some im-
portant and very unexpected results. But as I have laid before the
Royal Society, in whose Transactions my first memoir on the teeth of
the Iguanodon was published in 1825, a full account of the anatomical
characters of the maxillary and dental organs of this reptilian herbi-
vore, and the physiological deductions resulting therefrom, I will only
briefly notice a few of the most striking peculiarities.

In the Iguanodon, the true saurian type of structure is manifested
in the mode of implantation and constant reproduction of the teeth,
and in the composite construction of the lower jaw, each ramus con-
sisting of six pieces. But the teeth of the upper and lower maxillee
are placed in a reversed position in relation to each other, as in the
Ruminants ; the enamelled coronal facets of the lower series facing
the inside of the mouth, and those of the upper the outside. From
the appearance of the abraded coronal portion of the used molars,
it is evident that the teeth of the opposite jaws were arranged sub-
alternately or intermediately, for the grinding surface of each tooth
presents two facets, from the attrition of two antagonist teeth.

Another most extraordinary modification of structure is presented
by the anterior part of the dentary bone ; and it is one that could not
have been predicated from any thing previously known as to the max-
illary organization of reptiles. The symphysial portion, or front of
the lower jaw, instead of being crested by the alveolar process beset
with teeth, and continued uninterruptedly round the mouth, as in
existing lizards, is edentulous, and contracted in a vertical direction,
extending horizontally, and uniting by suture with the opposite side.
Thus the two rami form by their union an expanded scoop-like pro-

42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

cess, which very closely resembles the corresponding part in the
Sloths, and especially that of the extinct colossal Edentata—the My-
lodons. The dental canal is very large, and the number and size of
the vascular foramina sent off from it, and opening on the outer sur-
face of the lower jaw, and along the symphysis, indicate the great
development of the lower lip, and of the soft parts and integuments
that invested the jaw.

The physiological inferences suggested by this configuration of the
dentary bone are in perfect harmony with those derived from the
structure of the teeth, and we have now unquestionable proof that
the Iguanodon, like the colossal Edentata, possessed a large prehen-
sile tongue and fleshy lips, capable of being protruded and retracted ;
these must have formed most efficient instruments for seizing and
cropping the foliage and branches of the ferns, cycadez, and coni-
ferous trees, which doubtless constituted the food of this saurian re-
presentative and predecessor of the great herbivorous mammalia.

The true characters of the maxillary organs of the Iguanodon
being thus established, I have been able to determine with more pre-
cision the nature of several fragments of bones, which were tempo-
rarily referred to that animal. The portion of a lower jaw of a small
lizard from Tilgate Forest, described by me in the Philosophical
Transactions for 1841 as probably that of a young Iguanodon, is
evidently subgenerically, if not generically, distinct, though clearly
belonging to the same remarkable family. This saurian I therefore
now propose to distinguish by the name of Regnosaurus*, to indicate
the district in which it was discovered ; with the specific designation
of Northampton, as a tribute of respect to the noble President of the
Royal Society.

Summary.—The fauna of the Wealden, according to the present
state of our knowledge, comprises the following Vertebrata :—

Fishes.—About 30 species; of which one belongs to the Cycloid
order, 16 are Placoids, and 15 Ganoids.

Reptiles.—Twelve genera of Saurians; and there are indications
of four or five not yet established.

One genus of flying reptiles—the Pterodactyle.

Four or five genera of Chelonians.

Of the warm-blooded Vertebrata, bones, supposed to belong to
Birds (Paleornithis), are the only vestiges hitherto obtained.

In concluding this imperfect sketch of the fauna and flora of the
Country of the Iguanodon, it is impossible not to indulge for an in-
stant in a retrospective glance at the light shed by geological researches
during the last quarter of a century, on the physical history of that
terra incognita of my early years—the Wealden district of my native
county; and I will venture to affirm, that notwithstanding the in-
terest and importance of the organic remais that have been dis-
covered, the palzeontology of the fluviatile deposits of the South-east
of England is as yet but very imperfectly explored, and that relics

* Sussex, the ancient kingdom of the Regni.

1848.| PRESTWICH ON STRATA OF CHRISTCHURCH HARBOUR. 43

of the past, more precious than any hitherto obtained, remain to
reward the labours of future observers. I would also remark, that
the fact of so long a period as nearly thirty years having elapsed be-
tween the first discovery of detached teeth, and of a portion of the jaw
of an Iguanodon with teeth in place, notwithstanding diligent and
constant research, is worthy of especial consideration, as a striking
proof of the little reliance that ought to be placed on what is termed
negative evidence ; and it suggests the salutary caution, that we should
not hastily infer the non-existence of any forms of animated nature in
the earlier ages revealed by geology, simply because no vestiges of
their organic remains have been detected.

2. On the Position and General Characters of the Strata exhibited
in the Coast Section from CuristcHURCH Harsour to PooLe
Harsour. By Josepu Prestrwicu, Jun., Esq., F.G.S.

I HAVE on former occasions described the eocene strata of White-
cliff Bay and of Alum Bay*. The sections of these two localities show
in a remarkable manner the changes there undergone, in the com-
paratively short distance of twenty miles, by the series of sands and
clays forming the Bracklesham Bay beds, and included between the
London clay and the Barton clay. I also gave the commencement
of the section of the Barton clays at Barton, to show their connection
with the upper part of the section at Alum Bay. I have recently
had the opportunity of further examining the coast-sections from
Barton Cliff to Poole Harbour, with a view to continue the sequence
of superposition lower in this more westward portion of the series.
This part of the coast was described by Sir Charles Lyell in a paper
read before this Society in March 1826. I need not therefore enter
into a detailed description of the strata, but will confine myself to the
question of the exact position which they bear with reference to the
Barton clay, and to a few general observations on their physical con-
ditions. ‘The progress made by the sea in the destruction of the
cliffs has also, I believe, brought to ight some new features.

In the first place I have, I think, obtained evidence of the exist-
ence of the Barton clays to the westward of Christchurch Harbour ;
consequently the section downwards from them, which I had discon-
tinued at Muddiford, can now be taken up and continued uninter-
ruptedly to Poole Harbour.

Mr. Webster and Sir Charles Lyell have both noticed the sands
which underlie the Barton clays at the end of the Barton Cliff near
Muddiford. After leaving this cliff, Christchurch Harbour, with its
dunes, intervenes for the space of a mile and a half before we reach
the cliff at Hengistbury Head. The relation of the strata at this
point to those of the Barton cliffs is thereby obscured, and the se-
quence rendered apparently incomplete.

It may be necessary here again to mention briefly the general cha-
racters of the lower part of the Barton clays as exhibited in the cliff
east of Muddiford. The extreme abundance of fossils in the upper

* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. ii. p. 224, and vol. iii. p. 408.

44 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

part of the Barton clays near Hordwell is well known, but m descend-
ing lower in the strata they become much scarcer, and almost entirely
disappear at the base of these clays. The strata also become gene-
rally more mixed with sand, much of which consists of greensand. At
the end of the cliff near High-cliff House, nearly one mile east of
Muddiford, we have the following section, fig. 1.

Section near the West end of Barton Clif’.
Pie?

Ochreous flint gravel.

Dark grey sandy clays with imperfect vegetable re- | Lower part
mains. — j of the
Tabular soft septaria mixed with greensand. Barton clay
== Clayey greensand with a few indistinct impressions series.
—= of shells and a few pebbles.
== Rounded flint pebbles in light-coloured sand.

ight grey clayey sand full of car- ]
bonized small fragments of vege- | The upper part of this bed
tables. thins out as it trends
westward, whilst the
lower part loses its bitu-
c minous clay and passes
into a fine whitish and
yellow sand full of the
Same as above the sandstone, but | same carbonized frag-
rather lighter and more sandy. | ments of vegetables.

————_——>

—_—S—== Light brown and yellow clayey

SSS sand with imperfect vegetable

If the strata at the Barton cliffs and those at Hengistbury Head
were on the same line of strike, and no fault mtervened, we might
expect to find at the latter place beds lower in the series than those
we left at the former ; but it will be perceived that Hengistbury Head
projects south in advance of the general line of coast, and conse-
quently is not in the same bearing of the strata as the Barton Cliffs.
At Hengistbury Head the strata are more in the trough of the syn-
clinal line of which the anticlinals of the Isle of Wight and Isle of
Purbeck form the southern edge. This may, I think, account,
without any disturbance, for the reappearance of the Barton clays on
the other side of Christchurch Harbour at Hengistbury Head. I
have little to add to Sir Charles Lyell’s description of the cliffs at
this place, and beg to refer to his paper for fuller details than I pur-
pose entering into. I would venture however to introduce the group-
ing shown in the section fig. 2.

In examining this section we find a near lithological resemblance
to the cliff east of Muddiford. The difference is no greater than is
common at like distances in any beds of this varying series. The
same general characters are preserved, but some slight details vary.
The sands at the base of both sections are exactly alike in appearance,
and present in both places the same peculiar fragmentary and carbo-
nized appearance in their imbedded vegetable remains. Then we

1848.] PRESTWICH ON STRATA OF CHRISTCHURCH HARBOUR. 49
Section of the Clif at Hengistbury Head.
Fig. 2.

Ochreous flintgravel.
Feet.

These beds form one se-
ries, and pass one into
the other. It contains
large, flat, very ferru-
ginous septaria full of
carbonized vegetable

|
: fragments and with a
L

Sandy clays. 7}

White clayey sands full
———— of vegetaole remains.

== Clay much mixed with
= sands, white & green.
———————————— '

—— Dark grey clay much
: = mixed with patches of
greensand.

very few casts of shells.
In the lower bed of
clay casts of shells are
also very rarely found,
but in parts of the clays
above they are not un-
common ; afew pebbles
occur throughout.

Lower part of the Barton clays.

=== Rounded flint pebbles J
‘+: in white sand.

bonaceous matter so greatly increases, that the upper part
of the sand for a thickness of 5 feet passes into a black
carbonaceous sand. The thickness of this stratum is
not seen in this part of the cliffs.

have the same well-marked bed of black flint pebbles, varying in size
from a marble to a swan’s egg, and imbedded in white and yellow
sand and forming a perfect gravel-bed. Above these are the clays,
rather more sandy, it is true, at Hengistbury Head than in Barton
cliff and the septaria more ferruginous, but with no character of any
value as indicating difference of origm. In further corroboration we
have the evidence, scanty though it be, of organic remains. In the
lower part of the clay at Hengistbury Head they are extremely
scarce: I only found one cast of a small Modiola and some teeth of
the Zamna. Rather higher in the section, and at a short distance
west of the Head, I however found very friable, but abundant re-
mains of Barton clay species of Panopzea, Solen, Cytherea, Pectun-
culus and Venericardia. Of themselves these few fossils would be
insufficient to determine the age of these clays. Several of them
equally mark the Bracklesham beds, though on the whole they pro-
bably more resemble those of the Barton clays ; but this fact being
supported by a superposition and by lithological characters, agreeing
with the lower beds of the Barton clay at Barton, it follows that the
weight of evidence is in favour of their belonging to this series. I
had not time to work out more fully the organic remains of this bed,
but a further search would, I am convinced, bring many more to
light. There is a brick-pit recently opened immediately on the eastern
side of the headland, at which I requested the men to collect any
specimens they might meet with.

The septaria, although containing almost exclusively carbonized
fragments of plants and imperfect vegetable impressions, also showed
traces here and there of shells. The “ Teredo antenauta”’ was far
from uncommon in some of the large fossil stems of trees which are
found both in the clays and in the septaria. I would also call atten-
tion to the occasional occurrence, in a tolerably perfect state, of the

46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [June 14,

seeds of plants amongst the mass of fragmentary vegetable remains
in the septaria.

The cliffs range westward about half a mile without any lower
strata outcropping. For a distance of nearly a mile we then find
nothing but low cliffs of sand and gravel, which interrupts the se-
quence of stratification. When the cliff rises again it consists of
gravel underlaid by whitish and yellow sands regularly stratified, but
with no characters sufficiently definite to indicate to what exact part
of the series they belong. After a continuation, however, of this
section for about half a mile, we luckily meet with a slight throw-in
of an overlying stratum, which enables us to resume the plan of super-
position in descending order. The section is as follows.

Fig. 3.

“ts Ochreous flint gravel.

a. Dark grey clay mixed with
FS ————— patches of greensand.
é = 6. Rounded flint pebbles in whi-

ee tish sand.
=== = €, Sands—white and yellow.

Here we evidently have im a small depression the base of the
Barton clays. The peculiar appearance of the clays “a’’ and of the
bed of pebbles “‘ 6” cannot, at this short distance from its last ap-
pearance, be mistaken, and this structure and order is peculiar to this
part of the series.

After this slight reappearance the Barton clays are not seen again.
As we proceed westward the cliffs rise in height, and range uninter-
ruptedly to the entrance of Poole Harbour, a distance of six miles
and a half; but, as observed by Sir Charles Lyell, the section is
continued ‘‘so precisely in the line of bearing of the strata that no
new beds rise up ;”’ the whole consisting of the sands which imme-
diately underlie the Barton clays.

Notwithstanding, however, the want of fresh outcrops, there is
much to interest in the illustration which these strata afford of rapid
changes of condition within short distances.

To commence with the pebble bed “0.” This at first sight might
appear to thin out, whereas it in reality forms the upper part of the
cliff for a considerable distance westward ; but, from the circumstance
of its immediately underlying the common surface-gravel in this part
of its course, it may readily be confounded with it; a closer exami-
nation will, however, distinctly show the difference between the two.
The one is a confused mass of angular, with a few round, flint pebbles
in clayey ochreous sand; the other consists uniformly and solely of
perfectly rounded smaller or larger flint pebbles, mixed with more or
less sand, and always, when the latter predominates, showing distinct
though rough stratification.

At Alum Bay we have seen this bed of pebbles about six inches
thick (see Section of Alum Bay, stratum 28), and consisting of pebbles
about the size of an egg.

At the end of Barton Cliff the pebbles are generally larger, and
the bed is about a foot and a half thick. At Hengistbury Head its

1848.| PRESTWICH ON STRATA OF CHRISTCHURCH HARBOUR. 47

thickness has increased to about three feet; two miles westward of
this headland it is four feet thick. Thus far it has increased in thick-
ness very gradually, and its character has not materially changed, the
proportion of pebbles and sand and the size of the former not varying
much. At this pomt however it begins to be rapidly developed, as
represented in fig. 4.

Fig. 4.
i Ochreous flint gravel.
= Pebble bed irregularly interstratified with

sand. Some of the round flints as large as
cannon-balls.

ISS Whitish and yellow sands.

oe SSSSSSS5SSSSS
SSSSESSESESESaDaDESaaBaBDanD=aNnND"DRDSESaaaaDaaS
—————————>s=sssas—e—e——SHNBS———=_

The pebbles now become larger ; irregular and false stratification
with beds of sand sets in, and in the range of fifty yards this stra-
tum attains a thickness of fifteen feet. So rapidly does the change
proceed, that by the time we have reached within two miles of
Bournemouth, or three miles westward of Hengistbury Head, this
conglomerate bed, which at the latter place we have seen to be only
_ three feet thick, is developed to a thickness of about forty feet. This
forms, for its limited extent, the most important conglomerate-bed
in the English tertiaries.

Below this bed is a series of lamimated and impure sands. In-
dications of the variations they present we have already perceived
at Barton Cliff and at Hengistbury Head; there however their de-
velopment is confined both as regards thickness and range, but in
the Bournemouth cliffs they are exhibited, as we have before said,
in perfect continuity for a range of six miles, and with a thickness of
probably, as Sir Charles Lyell estimates, about 150 feet.

The sands are at one spot white, at another yellow, then light red,
sometimes coarse, at other places very fine; the clays are here very
carbonaceous and compact—there they are interlaminated with sand ;
elsewhere they consist of fine pipeclays; all these changes are not
changes in different parts of a vertical section, but changes in the
same bed and on the same levels, with incessant passages from one to
the other state of things. In one part of the cliff, as near Boscombe
for example, nothing can appear more tranquil and regular than the
arrangement of the beds. The upper part of the cliff consists of
well-marked, horizontal and uniform, fine white laminated sands,
passing downwards into yellow sands, the whole having a ribboned
appearance at a distance, and reposing upon horizontally-deposited
and laminated fine dark grey clays.

At a short distance east from this we find these clays almost
entirely replaced by sands; they then reappear again with strongly-
marked false stratification. Further still they again disappear, and
then they not only reappear as before, but the sands above and below
them assume the same lithological characters, and the whole cliff
presents a face of laminated clays. And thus it continues from

48 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

beginning to end; clays replacing sands and sands clays, horizontal
lamination giving way to oblique lamination, and then changing again,
with extreme frequency. So great are the changes, that if the
country were only exposed, here and there along the line of cliff, by
pits, it would hardly be supposed that the sections were in one and
the same stratum.

Westward of Bournemouth the division into layers of coarser sand
and fine clays is more marked ; pipeclays become more frequent. It
was in one of the latter subordinate layers, a short distance west of
Bournemouth, that the Rev. P. B. Brodie discovered the impressions
of leaves*: they are beautifully preserved, and in one or two seams
are most abundant, but the species are not numerous. At the end
of the cliff, towards Poole Harbour, there are indications of the
appearance of an underlying bed, consisting of a dark grey clay with
numerous flat masses of iron pyrites; without seeing it, however, m
greater extension, it would be difficult to say whether it is or is not
subordinate to the sands of Bournemouth Chiff.

As a whole, this stratum may be considered to consist of whitish
and yellow sands, occasionally very coarse, irregularly laminated with
subordinate dark carbonaceous clays, which latter are however chiefly
developed in the middle part of the stratum. It represents pro-
bably the strata Nos. 27 and 28 of the Section of Alum Bay Cliff,
and consequently the fossil plants of Bournemouth occupy a higher
position in the series by 300 to 400 feet than those of Alum Bay,
which occur in stratum 17+. Compared with the strata around Lon-
don, these beds would form part of the Upper Bagshot sands, or
the upper part of the Bracklesham Bay series of Hampshire.
The clays worked within a mile or two of Poole I believe also to
belong to the same series, but I am not yet im possession of data
sufficient to establish a continuance of the series downwards. The
sections are numerous ; but they are not connected, and the want of
fossils, and the rapid changes which we know to take place in the
same stratum on the same level, and of which I have further seen
some interesting examples in the railway-cuttings between Poole and
Wimbourne, together with the frequent repetition of very similar
characters in the different vertical parts of this series, render it
necessary to proceed in the study of the relative superposition of the
strata in this part of the country with much caution.

As a study of a peculiar physical tertiary structure, this is a
district of considerable interest. In the east of the Isle of Wight
we observe the portion of the eocene series between the London clay
and the Barton clay to consist of clays and fine sands repeated with
but little variety and in considerable thickness. The absence of
strong drifts is denoted by the abundant fossils and by the beds of
shells in their normal position, uninjured as at the moment of their
entombment, whilst vegetable remains are scarce. At Alum Bay, on
the contrary, the remains of drifted vegetables are common ; the strata
are strongly marked,—fresher, as it were, from their source ; exhibit

* Proc. Geol. Soc. vol. iii. p. 592.
+ Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. iii. section p. 408.

1848. | FARRER ON INGLEBOROUGH CAVE. 49

the action of stronger drifts, and do not contain a single fossil to
represent the 200 species abounding in the synchronous strata at so
short a distance eastward. Continuing the examination still further
westward, we see every indication of an approach to those waters
which transported into the then seas the materials of which this
series is formed. Extreme irregularity prevails; the coarser por-
tions have here been left. In strong contrast with the coarse grits
and sands are the fine white clays, the result probably of intermediate
action so quiet as to carry but little of sucb sediment beyond this
threshold ; whilst, on the contrary, silt, which here under the stronger
aqueous action remained in small proportion and with few subdi-
visions, became, as it were, by its longer transport, sorted and sifted.
We thus have at Alum Bay a succession of clearly-defined and well-
marked strata, the representatives of which from Christchurch to
Dorchester, there is reason to believe, are fewer, less distinct, and
much entangled. I here merely allude to these questions to show
the interest which ground, apparently geologically barren and unat-
tractive, may possess when viewed in its larger bearing of ancient
physical conditions. To enter upon them fully would require a far
more complete survey of this district.

3. On Ingleborough Cave. By J. W. Farrer, Esq., F.G.S.

I veNTURE to lay before the Society a plan of the Ingleborough
Cave in Clapdale. In Mr. Phillips’s paper “On a group of Slate
Rocks, &c.” published in the Transactions of the Geological Society,
second series, vol. ui. part i. p. 12, under the title ‘‘ Clapham-dale,”’
the dale or valley, of which the cave forms a feature, is described.
The “ broad depressed cavern’’ mentioned by him is a little beyond
the mouth (A) of the ‘‘ Old Cave,” immemorially known, the extent
of which is shown upon the plan. At that time a curtain or barrier of
stalactite (a), descending from the limestone roof, was supposed to be
rock, but in September 1837, a passage being cut through it, the
several galleries and chambers marked upon the plan (fig. 1) were dis-
covered. ‘This series of galleries and chambers has at some distant
period been the course of the deck or stream which Mr. Phillips no-
tices, but the great accumulation of stalagmite on the floor has diverted
its course and forced it to work out another channel, and to issue
generally through ‘the broad depressed cavern.”

The rock in which these caves are situated is on the line of the
Great Craven Fault, and is the Great Scar Limestone described by
Prof. Sedgwick in a paper published in the same Transactions (second
series, vol. iv. part i. p. 69). In floods, the ‘“‘ broad depressed
cavern,” called in the country “ Little Beck-head,”’ is not sufficiently
large for the body of water, which rushes from the hills above through
the fissures and hollow interior windings in the rock; and it then
forces itself a passage through the larger (supposed to be the original)
mouth. The cave described on the plan is in its extent wet. On its
floor are numerous basins formed of stalagmite from one foot to four

VOL, V.—PART I. E

Plan, Fig. 1,—Section, Fig. 2.

INGLEBOROUGH CAVE:

PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

(June 14,

A. Cave mouth; B, Bridge; C, Cave; A—a Old Cave; a, Curtain; 4, Pillar Hall; c, Pillar and abyss; f—f, Long gallery; g—g, cross arches; /, Giant’s hall.

1848.] SOMMER ON THE GEOLOGY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Ol

feet in depth ; some of these remain full of water as when discovered ;
from others the water has been let off for the purpose of rendering
the cave passable. In the narrower parts or galleries, in which these
basins have not been formed, the bottom is covered with sand and
gravel of limestone and millstone grit, pebbles of various sizes, ce-
mented together in many places by carbonate of lime. It is unne-
cessary to add, that the curtain or barrier above referred to is formed
of layers of carbonate of lime. The temperature of the cave varies
very little; the highest between November 1846 and August 1847
was 50° of Fahrenheit, the lowest 48°. A register-thermometer was
noted and left in the Pillar Hall (6) in the former month and again
observed in the latter. The total length measured along the middle
of the cave is 702 yards.

4. A Sketch of the Geological Formation and Physical Structure of
Western Austrauia. By Ferp. von Sommer, Dr. Med. and
Phil.

[Communicated by the Secretary. ]

Dr. Sommer states that he was charged by the Local Government

of Western Australia to examine and to trace out aseam of coal found

by accident about a year ago in the bed of a creek or temporary river
called the ‘‘ Irwin,”’ at a distance of 200 miles northwards from Perth.

He begins his description with Port Grey, or as the northern divi-

sion of that diluvial segment is called, Champion Bay. Both divi-

sions or bays are separated and in a great measure formed by a small

peninsula of two miles in length and three-quarters of a mile in
breadth, stretching nearly from east to west ; composed of a peculiar
kind of oolitic limestone of combined coral and shell formation and
covered with sand. The older parts of the line of coast in this neigh-
bourhood, as well as the islands of a corresponding age, rest on a more
crystalline secondary limestone. The newer portions of the coast,
with the long reefs which shelter the bay against north-west gales,
and the numerous groups of low islands, called the Abrolhos, are
composed of a softer oolite resting on compact, often crystalline coral.

The same marine agent operates still, as well in forming new bays

and islands as in shutting up old bays (converting them first into

estuaries and then into diluvial soil), and in shutting up the rivers
of Western Australia with bars.

These new diluvial formations are materially assisted by hills of
quicksand driven by wind and waves over the reefs and bars often
to the height of some hundred feet, as is to be seen at the estuary of
the Hutt, Champion Bay, and Jurieu Bay. These sand-downs are
then often cemented with a pasty solution of softer shells, and are
soon covered with a saliferous vegetation forming the foundation of a
new country.

These well-known contemporary modifications of the sea-boundary
are perhaps nowhere more obviously manifested. The estuary of the
Hutt, for instance, is, since the few years when it was first seen by
Capt. Grey, already so much altered that Dr. Sommer could scarcely

52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL Society. [June 14,

recognize his description; and at Jurieu Bay there is an extent of
more than 150 square miles of grassy and wooded country elevated
from forty to eighty feet above the level of the sea, of so recent a
date that many of the shells still existing in great beds upon it have
not even lost their colours. +

About five miles eastward of Champion Bay, Moresby’s flat-topped
range (of which Mount Fairfax is the eastern outlier) consists of a
ferruginous clay formation with prismatic escarpments, elevated 300
to 400 feet above the surrounding sandy plains, and from 500 to 600
feet above the sea, passing into sandstones, conglomerates and por-
pbyritic rocks. Those iron-clay hills extend here from fifty to sixty
miles to the east, and have the appearance of a table-land cut into
pieces by a vehement ocean-current directed from south-east to north-
west.

Eastward the high country begins to rise again, and consequently
to form watersheds, directed against the valleys of the clay table-land.
This new rise extends in the mean only from ten to twenty miles, with
an additional altitude of 100 to 200 feet, and in a direction pointing
nearly from Cape Riche on the south coast to the centre of Shark’s
Bay on the west coast. It is constituted entirely of the different
strata of the coal formation, with the exception of the calcareous mem-
bers, as in all that line neither carboniferous nor mountain limestone
exists below the coal.

The clay of the table-land passes here, almost in a direction from
west to east, into a fine-grained sandstone or a conglomerate amygda-
loid or true porphyry ; and eastward, where the country still rises,
grauwacke appears in combination with hornblende rocks and mica-
ceous gneiss.

From this place the country descends gradually farther to the east
for a distance of about 150 miles, forming extensive plains of red
decomposed iron-clay covered with a high and dense scrub of the Me-
laleuca, passing over into swamps or lakes covered with gypsum in-
terstratified with new red sandstone and iron-conglomerate, indicating
a second parallel coal-field.

Dr. Sommer traced the first or western coal-field down from the
heads of the Irwin river to those of the Moore, a distance of about
160 miles, and has transmitted specimens of the coals, shales, sand-
stones, and petrifactions of these localities. The first stratum of coal
is six feet, the second eight feet thick ; both quite near to the sur-
face, and bearing from N.N.W. to S.S.E., and dipping to the W.N.W.
under an angle of about 72°.

A section of the country at the north branch of the Irwin gives
the following series in descending order :—

feet
Adinwial sath. (0... ceca ae emt ae | Se 5
Yellowish and reddish clay .............. 10
Pott whiLewandstone 14. 03: Baad’. mecca 10
Merruain ous canistone.. el one ee 1
Micaceous soft white sandstone .......... 15

Porphyritietron-clay’ 92-7. ae eee eee 1

1848. ] DAVIS ON THE SOUFFRIERE OF ST. VINCENT. 53

feet
Stratified and unctuous clay ............ 10
Yellow micaceous sandstone.............. 8
Raley ABTAIIALCD SIAC io aus eres ys 3 fe 2 © 16
Yellow and red micaceous sandstone ...... 7
Ferruginous new red sandstone .......... 9
WV nite MICaCeOUS CLAY, fifels ass cs spelt s as § 4
Ses iy Nr sk Feo og Pe sree
Parse Sante COAL uni. cosh ips eo. SNe os 5
NEIERCCOUS SATIOSUONE ws, x. Sais oo s5h ude lassi a
MRC CEIAIIG) SEINE! PAS e goes yc «dow iki om gtaved Oe 4

Second seam of coal, thickness unknown.

The iron-clay formation between Port Grey and Shark’s Bay passes
gradually into sandy grits, near Jurieu Bay, and then near the Moore
River into a level clay country, covered with white and yellow sand,
and but little elevated above the sea. The country rises again through
a series of undulations; the higher hills bemg composed of iron-clay
and granitel covered with different varieties of the Kucalyptus. About
forty miles northwards from Perth a granitoidal table-land commences,
which has received the name of the Darling Range, and runs at an
elevation of 500 to 600 feet from thence to King George’s Sound on
the south coast.

In the district between the small rivers called the Canning and the
Serpentine, veins of zinc ore containing traces of lead and copper are
found and worked. These metalliferous veins run nearly from east
to west and dip to the north, but as the flat diluvial land between the
Darling Range and the sea-coast interrupts the granitel very abruptly,
they will probably have a very short run, or lie very deep.

5. Notes on the SoUFFRIERE of St. Vincent. By Masor Henry
Davis, 52nd Light Infantry.

[Communicated by Sir Charles Lyell, V.P.G.S.]

In 1840, when quartered with the 52nd Regiment in the Island of
St. Vincent, I visited the Souffriére volcano, and again repeated my
visit the following year in company with a scientific friend, the Rev.
T. Checkley, now rector of Kingston the capital of that island: we
were fortunate enough to fall in with an engineer named Dixon, a
most sensible, hard-working Scotchman, who had a property at the foot
of the mountain, and was a resident in the island and eye-witness of
the eruption in 1812: this gentleman accompanied our party and af-
forded us most valuable information as a guide, and witness of the
events that left the traces of interest it was our object to visit. This
gentleman I regret has died since that time, and the more especially so,
as amongst the old people who saw the eruption so much ignorance
prevailed, and so much terror, that little or no reliance can be
placed on their report; and now the lapse of six-and-thirty years
presents such a distorting medium, that everything they saw assumes
dimensions beyond the boundary of truth. However, the traces of the

54 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [June 14,

event are indelibly engraven on the mountain itself, and I think there
is enough to enable one to read the history of former commotions
from the data still extant.

In the remarks made on that eruption of the St. Vincent Souffriére
which took place in 1812, one fact seems to have been generally over-
looked, namely, the many eruptions that preceded it in the same
place. That something of the kind had formerly happened seems to
be implied by the local acceptation of the word Souffriére, but no
account of it, written or traditional, has travelled down to us. The
fact of many previous eruptions is abundantly proved by the exist-
ence of vegetable mould now lying between the strata near the bottom
of the last-made chasm ; and we may in some instances conclude, that
a long period of quiescence intervened between the convulsions from
the great thickness of the vegetable layers, particularly that one which
seems to separate the matter of the second last eruption from that
which immediately preceded it. We should have been in utter ig-
norance of these data, were it not for the almost perpendicular sides
of the new crater; but there the mountain exhibits the record laid
up in its own bosom, and shows the lines by which nature has di-
vided the times of its convulsions.

Many have wondered why a new opening was made almost in con-
tact with that already yawning, and which seemed ample enough to
discharge the contents of the mighty cauldron; but they forget that
a greater mass was to be emitted than was contained in the outward
cavity of the old crater, and that nature works by the simplest
modes : when the boiling matter rushed furiously forward for escape,
and found the already choked orifice too small for its volume, it
sought a new opening in the quarter where it was likely to meet with
the least resistance, and this was the side on which the new crater
now gapes. The incumbent matter was more easily displaced from
its want of coherence, and the lowness of the side next the Charaib
country facilitated its exit. During the eruption of 1812 no lava
issued from the mountain, but torrents of scorize and boiling water
ran down its sides with a fury that defied all resistance. On com-
paring the layers that indicate the eruption of 1812 with the strata of
eruption long antecedent, a correspondence is observed not only in
the similarity of the matter of those layers, but mm the order of their
ejection.

In ascending the foot of the mountain on the east side, I visited
the dry bed of a lake which was formed during the last eruption :
the sides were about 80 feet deep, in some parts perpendicular, and
formed of volcanic mud and pumice. The lake lasted only a few
days ; the water was arrested by the debris and other obstacles ; it was
supposed to have been upwards of 100 feet deep, but eventually burst
its barrier, and overwhélmed some sugar-plantations. On the west
side in descending the mountain, I crossed a dry bed of the old Ra-
baca river; it was nearly one mile wide, and one continued bed of
immense boulders and sand and pumice-stones. I should consider
the width of the old crater to be full a quarter of a mile, and the
depth to the water about 700 or 800 feet. Before the eruption, a

1848. ] LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 55

wooded cone of about 40 feet high was situated in the crater; this
was dissipated in 1812, and since that time none has been visible ; the
depth of the water is not known; the walls of the crater are so steep,
that it is very difficult and dangerous of access.

a ee

6. Notes on Foss1u Zoopuytes found in the Deposits described by
Dr. Firron in his Memoir entitled “ A STRATIGRAPHICAL AC-
count of the Section from ATHERFIELD to Rocken ENnpd”*.”
By Witu1aM Lonspatg, F.G.S.

See Puates IV. and V.

Tue fossil to be first noticed is apparently not included in the
stratigraphical lists or table published in the Quarterly Journal of
the Geological Society of London. It consists of small amorphous
masses attached at the base, from which in one instance extended a
thin layer (Pl. IV. fig. 1) ; and it is composed chiefly of irregularly ar-
ranged ridges with adjacent hollows, the whole surface bemg indented
by small pits and furrows, some of which are shallow, but others
penetrate to a greater depth (fig. 2); the intermediate apparently
solid portions have also minute pores (fig. 2), the terminations, it
is presumed, of similar openings detectable in transparent slices
of the interior and even in opake sections, and which cannot be
regarded either as distinct tubuli or as mouths of cells. Internally
the fossil presents numerous lacune (fig. 3), the downwards exten-
sion of the surface-pits. Some of them are circular, but they are more
often unequal in shape and size, and occasionally blended together ;
they have no direct boundary, and frequently exhibit a greater or less
degree of cloudiness, due apparently to a structural substratum. In
some portions of an intersection they abound, while in other parts
they are few in number or wanting. ‘The intervals consist of an
opake-white matter, not reducible to any distinct texture by the
_ powers used in the examination (a Codrington lens and a Hooker’s
microscope) ; but it occasionally incloses an irregular network,
formed of very minute fibres, and not unlike in texture the reticula-
tion of horny sponges (fig. 4). This structure is also exposed in some
of the lacunze. The opake intervals are penetrated by the micro-
scopic pores before-mentioned. These leading component parts
prove, that nothing strictly identical with the abdominal cavities of
Anthozoa and Bryozoa is recognisable in the Atherfield fossil ; while
they justify its being assigned to the class Amorphozoa.

The materials of which the solid portions of recent sponges are
constructed, and their modes of combination, are known to vary

* Read January 22, 1845. Published in the Quarterly Journal, August 1847,
vol. iii. p. 289 e¢ seg. At p. 318, a ‘‘Cellepora (same as at Farringdon)” is men-
tioned among the organic remains from “ Sandown Bay and coast near Shanklin.”
No specimen of that fossil was included in the collections submitted to examina-
tion ; and it is not possible that those about to be described could have been as-
signed to the genus Cellepora.

56 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

greatly. Many are stated to consist solely of a horny network*,
but the detection by Mr. Bowerbank of siliceous spicula in corneous
sponges renders doubtful to what extent horny fibres may occur
unaccompanied by earthy secretions. M. Milne-Edwards had pre-
viously announced the existence in Sp. carbonaria of a ‘ réseau corné
hérissé de petits spicules siliceux ;”’ and in the Aleyonium papillosum
of Lamarck, of a corneous network with calcareous spiculat. Similar
bodies had long claimed attention§ ; but their true nature was appa-
rently not understood until Dr. Grant investigated the characters of
the sponges of the Frith of Forth and other coasts||._ In one great
tribe he announced that “the axis is entirely calcareous, and soluble
with effervescence in acids” (op. cit. vol. xiv. p. 336), and that in
very many others “the fibres are composed of minute siliceous tubes”
(p. 337). In addition, however, to these decidedly mineral struc-
tures, M. Milne-Edwards has shown that earthy constituents are
combined in sponges in many other states: in Sp. penicillosa, the
filaments “renferment dans leur substance un peu de carbonate de
chaux 4] ;” also in Sp. calyx (p. 556) ; while in Sp. pennatula “ ces
filaments” corné ‘‘ sont solidifiés par du carbonate de chaux. Par-
enchyme hérissé de petits spicules siliceux” (p. 560-561); and Sp.
juniperina, he says, is composed of ‘un réseau corné, dont les fila-
mens s’élargissent beaucoup dans leurs poimts de soudure, et sont en-
tourés d’une multitude de petits spicules de silice et de quelques
granulations caleaires” (p. 563-4); lastly, for the Sp. fragilis of
Montagu**, Dr. Johnston has founded on his own and Mr. Bower-
bank’s observations the genus Dyseideat+, in consequence of the
grains of sand, which Montagu had also noticed. The compiler of
this notice is not aware whether the species just mentioned have
been recently arranged under distinct names ; but it is well known
that Dr. Fleming tt proposed the terms Halichondria and Grantia
for sponges respectively composed of siliceous or calcareous spicula
(op. cit. pp. 520, 524), while he retained the word Spongia for the
species which have a decidedly corneous framework. These “ ge-
nera,”’ however, have been regarded by Dr. Grant as “ orders§$§,”’ and

* Consult Lamarck, 2nd Ed. vol. ii. p. 543 e¢ seg., nos. 7, 9, 11, 12, 45, 46, 48,
54, 63, 73, 114.

t+ Annals Nat. Hist. vol. vii. p. 129, 1841; and Trans. Geol. Soc. 2nd ser. vol. vi.
p- 182 note.

+ Lamarck, 2nd Ed. vol. ii. p. 546, No. 20, p. 604-5, No. 23, 1836.

§ Consult Ellis, Nat. Hist. Corallines, 1754, Sponges, No. 2; Ellis and Solander,
Zoophytes, 1786, tab. 58. fig. 4, or Lamouroux’s Exp. Méthod. tab. 58. fig. 4 : also
Montagu, Essay on British Sponges, Wern. Trans. vol. ii. p. 93 e¢ seg., particularly
pp. 93, 116, 88, 89, 95, 97 and 99.

|| Edin. Phil. Journ. vol. xiii. pp. 94, 333, and vol. xiv. pp. 113, 336, 1825-26.

§, Lamarck, 2nd Ed. tome ii. p. 548; consult also p. 540.

** Wernerian Trans. vol. ii. p. 114. pl. 14. fig. 1, 2.

tt History of British Sponges, pp. 185, 187-190, pl. 13. fig. 6, pl. 14. fig. 4, 1842.

tt History of British Animals, 1828. Dr. Grant has proposed Halina and Hali-
clona for siliceous sponges, as quoted by Dr. Johnston, op. cit. p. 88, and M. de
Blainville, Halispongia, Man. d’Actinologie, p. 532, 1830, 1834: for Grantia, Dr.
Grant has also proposed Leucalia, and Leuconia (apud Dr. Johnston, p. 172), while
De Blainville has applied to the same bodies Calcispongia (op. cit. p. 530).

§§ Todd’s British Annual for 1838, p. 268.

1848.] LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. BF

in an able article on Spongiadze by another authority, they are con-
sidered as families*. It is also now admitted, that the composition of
Amorphozoa is not a sufficient basis for genera; but that the ar-
rangement of the skeleton, and the form and distribution of the orifices
and pores, as well as the habitat, should be considered ; likewise when
possible, the nature of the gelatinous matter with the characters of
the ova, and many other points, will be readily suggested to the mind
of the experienced student. The freshwater body Spongilla has
been by one authority united generically with marme Halichondria+,
solely on account of its siliceous skeleton ; a union, however, which
has not been adopted. These remarks on the known component
parts of sponges have been considered necessary in an attempt to
approximate towards a knowledge of the Atherfield fossil.

A flake of that body dissolved completely in diluted muriatic
acid, so far as the magnifying powers employed could be trusted ;
due care being also taken to discard adventitious particles ; and it
was not until a portion of the fluid had evaporated, that anything
resembling spicula could be detected. The microscopic needles then
visible were however regarded only as minute crystals of selenite,
due to a slight impurity im the acid. This rough experiment, in
conjunction with the detected structures, leads, therefore, tc the in-
ference, that the fossil was originally a calcareous sponge; and that
among existing known Amorphozoa, it resembles most nearly the
genus Grantia, if mineral composition were admitted a sufficient
basis on which an agreement could be founded. In the dense nature
of the opake portion, a similarity may be also noticed with Grantia
compressa, especially when squeezed fragments of that species are
examined conjointly with sections or transparent slices of the Ather-
field organic remain, and each is viewed under the same low mag-
nifier; but when the power is sufficiently increased and applied
successively to the recent and extinct body, the former is shown to
consist of very conspicuous trifid spicula, while the latter retains its
minutely granular appearance ; Grantia, moreover, is described as
wholly destitute of a network, while in the Atherfield fossil such
a structure was clearly observed, independent of the general calca-
reous composition, though its true nature is not presumed to have
been ascertained. The characters of the large or excurrent canals
in the greensand sponge differ markedly from the equivalent aper-
tures in Grantia compressa and similarly formed species; but in
others which are crustaceous, as G. coriacea, there is a seeming re-
semblance ; nevertheless, the apparent nature of the calcareous matter,
and the existence of a fibrous reticulation, forbid, it is conceived, a
generic identification. The union of a corneous network and calca-
reous spicula in the Alcyonium papillosum of Lamarck has been
already mentioned ; but supposing that the fossil under consideration

* Penny Cyclopedia, vol. xxii. p. 376, col. 1, 1842.

t Hist. Brit. Animals, p. 524.

¢ Johnston, Brit. Sponges, p. 8; consult also Dr. Grant’s original memoir,
Edinb. Phil. Journ. vol. xiv. p. 339, 1826.

58 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

should prove when fully investigated to have such a composition,
still it could not be regarded as a true Alcyonium, that term having
been adopted by Pallas, and subsequently retamed by Cuvier, M.
Milne-Edwards and other great authorities for certain tentaculated
Anthozoa*.

For certain fossil Amorphozoa, Prof. Goldfuss+ adopted the terms
Achilleum, Manon and Tragos from Schweigger{, who had borrowed
them from Pliny§. Schweigger apparently regarded the three
genera as solely corneous, one of his characteristics for the whole
group being “ calx nulla” (doc. cit.). For his type of Achilleum he
adopted with Pliny (“‘ex quo penicilli’’) the ordinary sponge of
commerce ; for that of Manon, the Sp. oculata of Esper||, a Euro-
pean species, and identified by Dr. Johnston ¥ with the Halichondria
palmata of Dr. Fleming** ; while for Tragos he gives T. incrustans,
Aleyonium incrustans of Espert+, considered by Dr. Johnston to be
the well-known “ bread-sponge,” or Halichondria paniceatt. Two
out of the three genera have therefore, according to Schweigger’s
types, a mineral (siliceous) skeleton, and the other, the sponge of
commerce, has an intermixture of earthy with corneous materials.
M. Goldfuss’s characters for Achilleum (op. cit. p. 1) agree with
those given in the ‘ Beobachtungen,’ as well as his notices of Manon
and Tragos, embodymg however in the permanent structures the
large apertures alluded to by his predecessors in the superficial ge-
latinous or subgelatinous matter. From this statement it is plain
that the Atherfield fossil, having a decidedly calcareous composition,
cannot be generically identified with the Achilleum, Manon or Tragos
of Schweigger; and Prof. Goldfuss not having alluded to the pro-
bable composition of the fossils assigned by him to those genera,
though from his adopting the characters previously given, he possibly
regarded the original constitution to have been corneous, it might be
deemed justifiable to reject, in the present case, those names without
farther inquiry. Moreover, the author of the article “ Spongiadze,”
before-mentioned, rightly observes, ‘‘ Very few of the genera adopted
from Schweigger, Goldfuss and others, can be considered at all suffi-
ciently determimed, because the constituent structures of the fossil

* Consult M. Milne-Edwards’s Memoir “ Sur les Alcyons proprement dits,”
Ann. des Sc. Nat. 2nd series, Zool., tome iv. 1835, or Recherches sur les Polypes,
Mem. “sur les Alcyons,”’ p. 1 e¢ seg., 1838 ; also 2nd Ed. Lamarck, ii. pp. 598,
631 note, 1836.

tT Petrefacta, &c., pp. 1, 2, 12 et seg., 1826-1833.

~ Beobachtungen auf Naturhistorischen Reisen, 1819, Systematic Table VII.

§ “ Spongiarnm tria genera accepimus : spissum ac predurum et asperum, tragos
id vocatur : spissum et mollius, manon: tenue densumque, ex quo penicilli, Achil-
1723) (Hist. Nat. Ed. Harduini, fol. tom. i. p. 529, or lib. ix. cap. xlv. sec. 69,
1723.

|| Pflanzenthiere &c., 1791-1794, Zweyter Theil, s. 180, Spongia, pl. 1.

q Hist. Brit. Sponges, p. 92-93. pl. 2.

** Hist. Brit. Animals, p. 523.

+t Op. cit. Alcy. tab. 15 apud Schweigger. Consult also Lamarck, 2nd Ed. i.
p- 603, no. 16. :

tt Hist. Brit. Sp. p. 122; Hist. Brit. Anim. p. 520.

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. o9

masses on which alone they can be justly founded, have, in most
cases, been altogether left unexamined*.”’ M. de Blainville having,
however, adopted Manon and Tragost+, and M. Milne-Edwardsf,
with hesitation, the three genera, solely for fossil Amorphozoa, as
well as M. Roemer § with certain modifications, and M. Geinitz||, the
terms Achilleum, Manon and Tragos have acquired a peculiar signi-
fication ; and it is a duty to ascertain, so far as is possible, what are
the essential structures of the bodies referred to them, and whether
the Atherfield sponge can be identified generically or specifically with
any of those fossils. It is advisable to begin with T’ragos.

1. The characters of that group (Petrefact. p. 12) are dense fibres,
and distinct, scattered, surface-openings ; but M. Goldfuss in his
Addenda (p. 243, 1833) considers Tragos to be equivalent with the
Chenendopora of Lamouroux 4 ; and he identifies 7. acetabulum**
with Ch. fungiformis. 'This generic determination is proposed by
M. de Blainville++ also for 7. pezizoides (pl. 5. fig. 8) and 7’. patella
(pl. 5. fig. 10) ; and by M. Milne-Edwards ft for 7. radiatum (pl. 35.
fig. 3) and 7. rugosum (pl. 35. fig. 4). Chenendopora is stated to
be distinguished by a funnel-form, with pores or cellules on its
internal surface, characters exhibited more or less distinctly by the
fossils just mentioned, and by 7’. reticulatum (pl. 35. fig. 5) as well
as by T. verrucosum (pl. 35. fig. 6). These structures are clearly in-
sufficient, to the extent known, to be the basis of a genus ; neverthe-
less they indicate a certain, uniform, physiological property in all the
species enumerated, except perhaps in the body represented by fig. 1.
pl. 35; and it is believed that those fossils should not be generically
united to the others described under the term 7’ragos. Whether
they are in part or wholly identifiable with Chenendopora, no evi-
dence is at present accessible. It is sufficient for this inquiry to
state, that the Atherfield fossil differs in every leading particular from
those Amorphozoa, and from Chenond. fungiformis, so far as figures
or descriptions can be trusted. Of the remaining eight species,
Goldfuss himself refers T. capitatum, a Bensburg production, to
Stromatopora polymorpha, which is found in the Eifel (pp. 13, 243
and 215) as well as at the former locality ; T. hippocastanum he
says is doubtful, being founded on imperfect casts (p. 13); and 7.
prsiforme (p. 12) he considers may be the young of 7’. stellatum
(p. 14, where Manon is mentioned apparently by mistake ; compare

* Penny Cyclop. vol. xxii. p. 376, col. 1, 1842.

tT Man. d’Actinol. pp. 542, 543.

{ 2nd Ed. Lamarck, ii. pp. 576, 587, 609.

§ Verst. Norddeutsch. Kreidegebirges, Erste Lieferung, p. 2-3, 1840.

|| Charakteristik der Petrefacten des sachsisch-béhmischen Kreidegebirges,
p- 96, 1839-1842. Refer also to Gaia von Sachsen, p. 132, 1843. The genera have
provably been adopted by many other authorities, unknown to the compiler of
this notice, or inaccessible to him, as Von Hagenow and Bronn, quoted by Roemer.

¥ Exposition Méthodique, p. 77. tab. 75. fig. 9-10, 1821.

** Petref. pp. 13, 243, pl. 5. fig. 9, and p. 95, pl. 35. fig. 1. The locality Eifel,
given in p. 13, is stated in p. 95 to be an error; consult also Index, p. 202.

Tt Man. d’Actinol. p. 543.

tt 2nd Edit. Lamarck, ii. p. 611-612.

60 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

pl. 5. fig. 5, and pl. 30. fig. 1, with pl. 30. fig. 2) ; leaving but five
species, and even this small group wants unity of characters* ; also
strict conformity with the leading definition of the genus. 7’. de-
Sormet (pl. 5. fig. 3) and 7. rugosum (fig. 4), not very dissimilar
bodies, and both found in the same formation as well as at the same
locality (p. 12), exhibit most nearly the required structures, which
differ however from those of the Atherfield fossil; and the other spe-
cies are still more unlike that body.

2. Manon, according to Goldfuss, consists of a lacunose fibrous
mass, with large circumscribed openings on the surface (p. 2) ; and
M. Roemer (op. cit. p. 2) describes the genus as composed of
variously formed masses, consisting of a trellis-like web, or bent and
anastomosed fibres, and having on the upper surface round or oval
openings with projecting edges. He discards from his characteris-
tics an external thick dense layer, conceiving that the generic separa-
tion between Manon and Achilleum should rather depend upon the
nature of the network. Of the ten species described by Goldfuss
(pp. 2, 94, 220), M. favosum (pl. 1. fig. 11) is removed by himself
to Cyathophyllum quadrigeminum (p. 243); M. eribrosum (pl. 1.
fig. 10) from the Eifel is possibly a fragment of M. Goldfuss’s Astrea
porosa (pl. 21. fig. 7), also from the same district; M. steliatum
(pl. 1. fig. 9) is considered by M. de Blainville (op. cit. p- 543) and
M. Milne-Edwards (Lamk. ii. p. 589) as referable to true Alcyonia or
Lobulariz, and consequently as not belonging to the class Amorpho-
zoa, While M. marginatum and M. impressum (pl. 34. fig. 9, 10)
are separated from the genus by M. Edwards (op. ezt. p. 588-9) on
account of their quadrangular network{. Of the five remaining
species, only M. tubuliferum (pl. 1. fig. 5) and M. pulvinarium (pl. 1.
fig. 6, Maestricht ; pl. 29. fig. 7, Essen), apparently possess the re-
quired generic structures, though under the latter term possibly two
species have been included. Distinct circumscribed apertures more-
over are not limited to Manon, and they do but characterise certain
stages of growth among Amorphozoa generally§. If specimens
exhibiting a different condition of development were alone examined,
they might be excluded from the genus. Respecting the other three
species, M. capitatum (pl. 1. fig. 4) is stated to have a few small
openings (p. 2); while in the fossils included under the term M.
peziza\| and derived from three formations, the apertures present
diversities of structure not referable to relative conditions, resembling

* Consult pl. 5. figs. 3, 4 and 11, pl. 30. fig. 2, also pl. 30. fig. 4.

+ Tragos deforme has been accidentally misquoted for 7. tuberosum in a notice
on the Lymnorea of Lamouroux (Lamk. ii. p. 612 ; Goldfuss, pp. 16, 84 and 243).

+ Consult also that author’s observations on Sp. bombycina, &e. (op. cit. p. 540),
and Sp. calyx, p.556. Parkinson in his ‘Organic Remains,’ vol. ii. pl. 7. fig. 8, has
delineated certain “cruciform spines,” found on the surface of a Swiss fossil
(p. 93-95) represented in fig. 9. A comparison with Goldfuss’ s figures 9 e, 10 c,
(pl. 34) almost justifies the inference that the “ spines” formed part of a similar
network.

§ Consult figures 8 4, 8 c, pl. 29. of Goldfuss as illustrative of different condi-
tions of fig. 8 a.

|| Pl. 1. figs. 7, 8, Maestricht; pl. 5. fig. 1, Essen; pl. 29. fig. 8, Maestricht ;
pl. 34. fig. 8, Jurakalk of Streitberg, Hattheim, Gingen and Regensburg, p. 94.

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 61

in some specimens (pl. 1. figs. 7, 8, pl. 5. fig. 1) more the larger
openings of ordinary corneous sponges than of those in Manon, while
in the “adult” variety (pl. 29. fig. 8) they exhibit peculiarities not
easily assignable to the specimens just noticed ; and in the example
delineated in pl. 34. fig. 8, they are as well circumscribed and simple
in nature as in M. tubuliferum or M. marginatum (pl. 34. fig. 9).
Lastly, it would be difficult to separate generically M. piriforme
(pl. 65. fig. 10) from Stphonia ficus (pl. 65. fig. 14) or S. punctata
(fig. 13), the slight central depression marking probably nothing
but a very aged condition. These observations, though limited to
one or two characters, and derived solely from figures or descriptions,
justify, it is conceived, the belief that the fossils assigned in the work
quoted to Manon, possess great diversity of characters, and require
long study by a skilful physiologist before their true nature can be
rightly understood. It may however be stated, that no structural
agreement with the Atherfield fossil could be detected in any in-
stance ; and a comparison of the specimens examined with M. Roe-
mer’s delineations of the genus (op. cit. pl. 1) will satisfy the ob-
server, that in those cases likewise there is no identity of composition.

3. The characters assigned to Achilleum by Goldfuss are, “ stirps
polymorpha, affixa, e fibris reticulatis lacunosa”’ (p. 1); and Herr
Roemer states, that the polymorphous bodies consist of a trellis of
round or straight fibres with knots at the junction-points ; and that
they have no special apertures (op. czt. p. 2). M. de Blainville passes
over the genus in silence (Man. d’Act. p. 530) ; and M. Milne-Ed-
wards, adopting all the species retamed by Goldfuss, conceives “‘ qui
paraissent étre des éponges proprement dites” (Lamk. i. p. 576).
The structures on which the genus is established deserve great atten-
tion—a simple network without any special apertures. Dr. Johnston
says, ‘‘ Many sponges are entirely destitute of oscula”’ (Brit. Sponges,
p- 13); butit must not be ferred from this expression, that excurrent
streams are denied in those cases*, On the contrary, the seeming
absence of such openings should lead to a careful research respecting
the means by which their functions are performed ; and new data for
accurate determinations may result from the inquiry. Dr. Grant has
satisfactorily shown the manner in which the want of scattered oscula
is compensated in Grantia compressa by the great central cavityt ;
and the necessity in certain species of Halichondria for their general
distributiont. He has likewise successfully combated the opinion,
that water may be imbibed and ejected through the same osculum in
ordinary sponges§. Should bodies apparently allied to Amorphozoa
be discovered, in which the twofold operation is performed through
one aperture, then it will become necessary to propose for their re-

* Consult Dr. Grant’s Memoir on Sponges, Edinb. Phil. Journ. vol. xiii. p. 334,
and vol. xiv. p. 117, 1825-6.
+ Ed. Phil. Journ. vol. xiii. p. 334; Lectures, Univ. Coll. Lond. ; Lancet, vol. i.
1833-34, No. 531. p. 199.
+ Ed. Phil. Journ. vol. xiii. pp. 106, 334-5 ; also Todd’s British Annual for 1838,
FO 4 ie. oe
§ Ed. Phil. Journ. vol. xiii. p. 105-107, p. 333 e¢ seq., vol. xiv. p. 117 e¢ seg.

62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

ception an order perhaps in Anthozoa; and should a deeply skilled
physiologist detect among fossils, evidences that the functions of the
living bodies were performed by peculiar processes, then also it will
become possible to establish on a sure basis genera or higher groups,
according to the nature of the detected properties.

Respecting the species of Achilleum enumerated by M. Goldfuss,
A. dubium (pl. 1. fig. 2) has been rejected by him (p. 243) ; and
additional information is requisite regarding 4. glomeratum (pl. 1.
fig. 1) as well as 4. Morchella (pl. 29. fig. 6), before their nature
can be surmised, although M. Roemer states (op. cit. p. 2), that the
latter has a regular trellis-web visible to the unassisted eye: 4. fun-
giforme (pl. 1. fig. 3) presents channels and apparently minor pores
very analogous to those of common horny sponges, and therefore
does not conform to the characters of the genus: 4. cariosum (pl. 34.
fig. 6) displays (fig. 6 6 mag.) a curious resemblance to the corneous
recent Sp. cellulosa* ; but fig. 6 a shows cylindrical cavities, the
round deep piercing holes noticed in the description, and stated to
penetrate lengthwise and transversely, and to have occasionally a
regular distribution (p. 94). Should those cavities be truly struc-
tural, they would indicate great peculiarities in the living body, and
remove the fossil from this genus. 4. truncatum (pl. 34. fig. 3) in
its enlarged representation (3 6) has a composition not very different
from that of fig. 6 4, except that the interspaces between the cavities
are wider and admit of a more complicated reticulation ; but fig. 3 a@
is totally destitute of the deep-piercing holes of A. cariosum : it
would be difficult also to suppose that the minor meshes represent
incurrent openings, and the larger apertures excurrent channels, there
being no evident relative proportion between the two structures.
This species therefore, if rightly understood, approaches more nearly
than the preceding to the composition assigned to Achilleum: A.
tuberosum (pl. 34. fig. 4) has likewise apparently a simple network.
A. cheirotonum (pl. 29. fig. 5), A. muricatum (pl. 31. fig. 3), and
A. cancellatum (pl. 34. fig. 5), have also no visible special apertures,
independent of the reticulated meshes ; but the web is peculiar, dif-
fering somewhat in each species, though maintaining a general con-
formity. It is not very dissimilar from that which Manon marginatum
or M. impressum (pl. 34. fig. 9, & fig. 10 4, c) would display, if stript
altogether of the dense lamina, and if the preserved surface was be-
yond the range of the shallow oscula (pp. 94, 95); but there are no
data for assuming that any analogous outer structure existed in
Goldfuss’s three species of Achilleum. Whether those fossils may
be taken as types of the genus must depend ona minute and thorough
examination of specimens, full descriptions, and the consent of com-
petent authorities. For the present Achilleum must be regarded as
a zoological term of doubtful signification.

One species of the genus, 4. costatum+ (Minster), remains to be

* Ellis and Solander’s Zoophytes, or Lamouroux’s Exp. Méthod. pl. 54. fig. 1 & 2,
nat. size: also Esper’s Pflanzenthiere, Sponges, tab. 60.

t+ Goldfuss’s Petrefacten, p. 94, pl. 34. f. 7, from the middle beds of the Jura-
kalk near Streitberg.

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 63

noticed, and it has been reserved for a more direct comparison, be-
cause it is the only figured organic body known to the author which
apparently partakes of the structures and mode of growth of the
Atherfield fossil. The natural size of M. Goldfuss’s example of 4.
costatum (loc. cit.) is four lines, or nearly that of a specimen of the
Atherfield fossil presented to the Geological Society by Capt. Ibbetson,
F.G.S. The Streitberg sponge is described (p. 94) as almost hemi-
spherical, and to be distinguished by nine projecting ribs, which
radiate from the apex to the base, and always widen downwards.
The web is stated to consist of thick, curled, loosely interwoven fibres,
and waved rind-like laminee are mentioned as occurring near the base.
A comparison of the Atherfield fossil (fig. 1) with M. Goldfuss’s en-
larged representation, and with his description, will establish an almost
perfect general agreement, due allowance being made for the simple
radiation of the ribs in one case, and for the contorted distribution in
the other. Viewed under an ordinary pocket-lens, the Atherfield
production will be found to be indented and pitted similarly to that of
Streitberg (Goldf. pl. 34. fig. 7) ; and at the base of a fine specimen
in Dr. Fitton’s cabinet was noticed a largely-developed thin lamina
(fig. 1). A distinction exists between the two fossils in the degree
of downward thickening in the ribs; but this want of conformity, as
well as the different arrangement of that structure, can be considered
but specific variations. M. Goldfuss clearly regarded the secondary
ridges as fibres, and the lacunze as meshes; in the Atherfield speci-
mens however, and from apparent analogy most probably in those
found near Streitberg, the secondary ribs are not simple but com-
pound structures, pierced by minute pores, and the lacune are inter-
blended or circumscribed channels. From what has been already
stated, it is evident that the Atherfield sponge does not possess the
characteristics of Tragos, Manon, or Achilleum, nor can it be referred
to any other genus known to the describer. It is therefore proposed
to distinguish the English Amorphozoon by the term Conis (xors,
pulvis), in allusion to the apparent pulverulent condition of the cal-
careous matter ; and it is further proposed to include under the same
generic name, but provisionally, Ach. costatum (C. costata).

Conls, n. g.

Gen. char.—Fixed, polymorphous, formed of variously- disposed ridges,
blended towards the base into a uniform mass; the whole surface
of the ribs and intervals lacunose, or indented by vertical and con-
necting channels: spaces between lacune minutely porous: con-
stituent material calcareous, very finely grained (?), including a
fibrous reticulation.

CoNIS CONTORTUPLICATA, Ni. sp.
(Piate IV. fig. 1 to 4.)

Spec. char.—Ridges variously twisted and anastomosed, irregular
in form ; the lacunz or channels, invisible to the unassisted eye*,

* It is perhaps requisite to state, that a Codrington lens or a Hooker’s micro-
scope was found necessary in attempting to ascertain the structures of this fossil.

64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

generally numerous ; intermediate spaces opake-white ; pores very
minute ; fibrous structure microscopic, meshes irregular, fibres more
or less curved, variable in character.

The largest specimen (fig. 1) submitted to examination was irre-
gular in form; its extreme length was rather more than seven lines,
breadth six lines, and thickness or height three and a half lines. It
had been attached when living to an unequal surface by a thin layer,
which extended beyond the base of the united ridges. The nature
of this lamina was not clearly detectable, but it appeared to be inti-
mately connected with the spongeous structure which sometimes ex-
tended over it, and in one part to have a striped surface with lacunee
or pits, similar to what was clearly exhibited in an indubitable por-
tion of the fossil. The specimens were in general so intimately united
to the sandy matrix, that it was almost impossible to obtain mechani-
cally a clean, perfect exterior. So far as ascertained, it consisted of
opake matter, more or less discoloured, and not a trace was detected
of a dense or distinct surface-layer. Fractured portions exhibited an
opake-white substance, and translucent spots of calcareous spar,
which marked the inward range of the lacunze or channels. Polished
sections and transparent slices (fig. 3) displayed a similar general
construction. Of the minuter textures some remarks will be found
in subsequent paragraphs.

In the two perfect specimens, as well as in the fragments examined,
the ribs or ridges (fig. 1) showed not the slightest approach to the
regularity of the Streitberg species, or to a development from a deter-
mined centre, but the greatest irregularity in the mode of growth ;
and their outline, in place of being uniformly curved, was more or less
tuberculated or conical ; and their sides, so far from thickening sym-
metrically downwards, were often almost perpendicular, and the in-
crease was frequently unequal on opposite sides, or in different por-
tions of even the same side. These discrepancies are believed to indi-
cate something more than varieties of a species.

It has been already stated, that the opake matter was not redu-
cible, by the powers employed, to distinct spicula, but preserved an
apparently granular texture under lenses which exhibited not merely
the spicula of Grantie and Halichondrie, but most fully their pecu-
liarities of form. That the matter was an original secretion, and not
an infiltered calcareous sediment, was inferred from its not fillmg the
immediately adjacent lacunze ; while the calcareous spar, which chiefly
occupied those cavities, was unadulterated by the argillaceous or other
finer particles of the overlying matrix. The minute particles visible,
in greater or less number, in many of the lacunze, and often giving
them a cloudy aspect, were similar in nature to those which composed
the surrounding dense substance, and were assigned, as well as an
occasionally evident diminution in the size of the hollows, to progress-
ive secretions dependent upon the changed wants of the living body
during its upwards or outwards extension. In colour the matter
resembled that of the solid portions of calcareous Anthozoa, and the
texture was not very dissimilar from what may be noticed in tertiary

1848. ] | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 65

corals—a point not unworthy of attention in attempting to ascertain
the natural kingdom to which a spongoid body belonged.

The reticulated fibres were not visible, except in transparent slices,
and not always in such sections. They were most conspicuous in
some of the larger lacune or channels, and where the opacity of the
interspaces was least (fig. 4); but they were also detectable in the
denser portions. Under a power just sufficient to render them visible,
the fibres appeared like dark reticulated filaments ; but even in that
apparent condition, bright points or lines were discernible im their
substance, and they became more marked with a higher magnifier.
How far those appearances were due to optical illusion no opinion is
hazarded ; but of the existence of a delicate fibrous reticulation, in-
dependent of the general calcareous matter, there was seemingly good
evidence. It was further inferred, that the reticulations were not
horizontal extensions of tubuli connected with the minor pores, as
they ranged across the less-clouded large lacunee, and had an inde-
pendent composition ; whereas the pores appeared to be simple per-
forations in the calcareous matter. The true nature of the network
is, however, left for the development of more competent observers.

The minor pores (fig. 2), one of the most interesting structures in
Amorphozoa, were detectable by a Codrington lens in external sur-
faces. Whether they penetrated inwardly, in a direct or tortuous
course, no good evidence was obtained; nor if they communicated
with the large lacune. Thin slices on glass, when viewed with the
higher powers of a Hooker’s microscope, armed with a plated reflector,
exhibited very many translucent or transparent specks, not referable
to accidental abrasions, being often well-defined, and they were con-
sidered as internal extensions of the pores detectable on the surface.
So far as the very limited knowledge of the observer justified a con-
clusion, those microscopic channels resembled much more the im-
bibing pores of mineral than of corneous sponges, and those of Grantize
rather than of Halichondrize.

The lacunee, believed to have performed the functions of excurrent
canals in sponges, presented on the surface, as before stated, irregular
pits (fig. 2), often perfectly circumscribed with clear surrounding
areas; but they were occasionally united by shallow furrows. Inter-
nally their existence was abundantly shown, both in polished sections
and thin slices (fig. 3), as well as in rough fractures ; but it was not
ascertained whether they preserved, in their inward course, an undi-
vided character, or were branched. 'Though in general very nume-
rous, they were occasionally less plentiful and small, and m some
portions wanting ; but the difference in size, as well as the total
absence, was ascribed to progressive fillmg-up as the growth of a
specimen rendered them of less importance or unnecessary in those
portions, and not to primary conditions of development. Their trans-
verse outline (fig. 3) was very irregular, and it had no definite boun-
dary, the margin being clearly formed of the fine granular matter
which penetrated more or less within their area ; and often a gradually-
imcreased opakeness was shown, according as the eye ranged from
the open channel. The reticulated structure was frequently very

VOL. V.— PART I. F

66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SociETy. [June 14,

marked within their area, reminding the observer of the network
progressively formed within the excurrent channels of corneous
sponges. In one of the thin slices which were obtained, the cavities
had a partial tendency to an elongated form, in consequence of a more
vertical intersection, but the range was in no case sufficient to assist
in determining the inward characters of the channels.

Dark waved lines in one section proved that accidentally-destroyed
surfaces had been covered by lateral extensions from adjacent living
portions.

The second fossil to be considered is apparently the Heteropora
of the published lists*, specimens procured for the describer from
the Council of the Geological Society, by Dr. Fitton, having that
generic name on their tablet ; but this coral is not the one previously
believed to have been assigned to the genus. In the collection with
which the author was first favoured, no specimen of the present fos-
sil was included ; and it was inferred, that another without a label
was the Heteropora of the lists (op. cit. p. 327*, Chisma furcillatum).

The coral to be examined is branched (Pl. IV. fig. 5); and the
whole surface is beset with two varieties of pores (fig. 5*)—one, well-
defined and circular, and surrounded, when perfect, by a projecting
margin; the other smaller, and variable in form, margin not raised :
internally (fig. 6) the coral consists of tubes more or less distant and
divergent, being continuations of the circular surface-apertures ; and
they are crossed at unequal distances by transverse lamine (6*): be-
tween the tubes is a cellular structure, represented on the surface by
the minor pores, and disposed in layers, which may be separated me-
chanically (fig. 7, 8), and are rendered visible in weathered surfaces
(fig. 5).

Heteropora was proposed by M. de Blamville+ for three Maestricht
fossils which M. Goldfuss had included in his genus Cerioporaf.
The essential characters given by its proposer consist in the surface
having “cellules de deux sortes, les unes bien plus grands que les
autres; and the lobes or branches are stated to be composed “ de
couches enveloppantes.”’ (Joc. cit.) M. de Blaimville however says,
that he had never examined a species in detail (analysé). Milne-
Edwards §, in his remarks on the genus, considers the minor pores not
to be the apertures of cells, but “‘ des pores pratiqués dans les parois
des cellules, dont les grands trous seraient les ouvertures ovales, struc-
ture dont on voit beaucoup d’exemples parmi les Eschares,” &c.
He nevertheless adopted the genus, and removed to it the Millepora
dumetosa and M. conifera of Lamouroux||. Many other authorities
have retained the genus, with two sorts of cells or pores as the essen-
tial character.

* Quarterly Journal Geological Society, vol. iii. No. for August 1847, p. 296,
** Heteropora ?”’ p. 302, ‘ Heteropora.”

+ Manuel d’Actinologie, p. 417, 1830-1834.

¢ Petrefacten, C. cryptopora, p. 33. pl. 10. fig. 3; C. anomalopora, p. 33. pl. 10.

fig.5; and C. dichotoma, p. 34. pl. 10. fig. 9.

§ Lamarck, 2nd edit. tome li. p. 317, 1836.
|| Exposition Méthodique, p. 87. pl. 82. fig. 7,8; and pl. 83. fig. 6, 7.

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 67

Were the lower greensand fossil to be studied solely with reference
to the surface, little doubt might be entertained respecting the cor-
rectness of the published determination; but it is necessary to in-
quire what may be the internal composition of the typical species of
Heteropora, and the amount of agreement with the English coral.
Of M. Goldfuss’s figures, only one exhibits a distinct interior; and,
unfortunately, it was not drawn from the same specimen as that
which supplied the enlarged surface ; but the coral, H. anomalopora,
is stated, as well as H. cryptopora (Petref. p. 33), to consist of
tubes. Of the composition of the third, H. dichotoma, no intorma-
tion is clearly afforded in the figures, and it is not alluded to in the
descriptions. The two first species may however be admitted to be
tubular and not cellular corals; and from M. Goldfuss’s figure 5 4
(pl. 10) it may be inferred, that the larger openings are only termi-
nations of tubes. As respects the minor pores, the great uniformity
of size represented in the delineations quoted (fig. 3¢ and fig. 5d), and
the equality in the dimensions of the large aperture as well as the
distinctness of character in each case, impress the belief that the
minor openings can hardly be regarded as young interpolations, but
that they belonged, as M. Milne-Kdwards suggests, to a peculiar,
subordinate structure. M. Lamouroux’s two species of Millepora*
exhibit however, in the enlarged representation, so great a diversity
of size in the openings, and want of separableness into two sets, that
there is no difficulty in supposing the smaller may be the mouths of
young tubest. Again, in the fossil described by M. Roemer under
the term Heteropora verrucosat, the secondary apertures have so
symmetrical an arrangement, that they imply very distinctive pro-
perties in the inhabiting polypi; while in some of the Heteroporee
beautifully figured in M. Michelin’s work§, the minor pores greatly
resemble lacunze, and, therefore, indicate other peculiarities im the
constructing animal. It is not necessary to allude to additional ex-
amples, enough having been given to show that ‘‘ two sorts of pores”
are an insufficient basis for a genus. Two of the fossils described in
these notices, the one under consideration, and Siphodictyum gracile,
possess most markedly large and minor apertures, but so far from
being referable to one genus, they belong to widely-distinguished
classes. Nevertheless, M. de Blainville was fully justified in sepa-
rating the three fossils from Ceriopora; but it remains to be ascer-
tained whether they are to be received as types of one genus or of
more than one.

The character, ‘‘ couches enveloppés,” is not insisted upon by M. de
Blaimville, being borrowed from Prof. Goldfuss’s description of Cerio-
pora (Petref. p. 32); as the lower greensand coral however possesses
such a structure, it must not be passed over in silence. The term

* Op. cit. pl. 82. fig. 8, pl. 83. fig. 7.

+ M. Michelin has described under the terms Ceriopora dumetosa and C. coni-
Jera, fossils which he identifies with Lamouroux’s Millepore, and the figures have
only one kind of pores. Iconog. Zoophyt. p. 245. pl. 57. fig. 7a, 0; fig. 8 a, d.

¢ Verst. Norddeuts. Kreidegeb. tab. 5. fig. 26 a,b.

§ Iconographie Zoophytologique, pl. 57. figs. 2, 3, 4.

F 2

¥
68 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

has been applied to two different modes of composition :—one, in
which tubes springing from a centre form successively funnel-shaped
layers or rows, the newest being developed within the one which
preceded it, as in the fossil represented im Goldfuss’s figure 4c, pl. 27
._(Calamopora polymorpha) ; while by the other mode, the newest layer
is constructed without the next older, constituting a cylindrical crust,
the whole mass being composed of concentric layers. Figure 13,
pl. 10 (Ceriopora tubiporacea) of the ‘ Petrefaeten,’ exhibits appa-
rently such a structure (consult p. 35). Both those fossils M. de
Blainville removed to Lamarck’s Alveolites, which, he states, as well
as that authority, is composed of layers enveloping one another (Man.
d’Actinol. p. 404). If the structure exists in the original species of
Heteropora, it probably conformed to the funnel-shaped plan (Pe-
tref. pl. 10. fig.56) ; whereas in the lower greensand fossil it exhibits
concentric layers. In MM. Koch and Dunker’s work on the oolitic
formations of northern Germany+, a coral referred to Heteropora
displays in one of its illustrative figures (pl. 6. fig. 14¢) a concentric
composition closely resembling that observable in some fractured
branches of the English fossil (fig. 9 nob.) ; and it possesses a diversity
of size in the pores. Whether that body has an aggregate of essential
structures similar to that of the one under examimation, no opinion
can be hazarded ; but supposing such an identity could be established,
and it is not impossible, still, so far from the two fossils being distinct
species of Heteropora, it would be necessary to sever the German pro-
duction from the genus. Again, the Ceriopora tubiporacea of Gold-
fuss (pl. 10. fig. 13) alluded to before, displays in the transverse section
a concentric composition closely resembling that shown in transverse
slices of the lower greensand coral (fig. 10); but m the figures quoted,
only one sort of aperture is delineated, and there are no proofs of
continuous tubular cavities. M. de Blaimville removed Cer. tubipo-
racea to Alveolites, as already stated; but it is not necessary to in-
quire if the fossil under discussion belong to the same genus ; because,
whether the second species described by Lamarck (Al. suborbicularis,
t. li. p. 286), the first bemg of a doubtful nature, or the recent spe-
cies (4/. incrustans, p. 287, no. 4), be assumed as the type, neither
of them has the structures of the Isle of Wight coral.

As a summary of differences between Heteropora and the subject
of this notice, it may be stated, that in the tubes of H. anomalopora
not a trace of transverse laminze is shown, nor are such plates alluded
to in the descriptions of any species; whereas, in the specimens re-
presented by fig. 6 and 6*, they are often very conspicuous: the cha-
racter expressed by M. Goldfuss’s figure 5 is that of the tube of an
Ascidian polype; while the laminee in the section would intimate an
Anthozoan inhabitant. Whatever may be the nature of the mmor
pores in Heteropora, they clearly belong to a peculiar, cellular struc-
ture in the greensand fossil: differences in the enveloping layers have
been already mentioned ; but it must be added, that in the English
coral the concentric character is due to a cellular composition ar-

+ Beitrage zur Kenntniss des Norddeutschen Oolithgebildes, &c., 4to, 1837.

1848. ] LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 69

ranged in more or less regular rows (fig. 6), which are separable me-
chanically with smooth surfaces (fig. 7, 8). Conceiving that these
distinctions justify an altered assignment, and not having been able
to discover an aggregate of similar structures in any genus known to
him, the describer proposes to designate the greensand coral by the
term Choristopetalum (xwptords, separabilis, réradorv, lamina), in allu-
sion to the separable layers between the tubes.

CHORISTOPETALUM, Ni. g.

Gen. char.—Branched or encrusting: surface beset with apertures of
two kinds,—one the terminations of tubular, abdominal cavities, —
the other smaller and connected with an intermediate cellular struc-
ture: abdominal cavities crossed by transverse laminze, no lamellee
or furrows ; adjacent tubes more or less distant : interspace occupied
by separable layers, perforated by pores: young cavities produced
between the pre-existing.

CHORISTOPETALUM IMPAR, Nl. Sp.
tbe ys ee bo Ths)

Spec. char.—Unequally branched, or encrusting : apertures of abdo-
minal cavities raised,—of the cellular pores immersed ;_ no order of
arrangement in the openings, nor numerical proportion between the
large and small : abdominal cavities nearly vertical or slightly diver-
gent in the axis of the branches, almost horizontal in the outer zone ;
distance between transverse lamine variable : interspace dividing the
cavities very small in the axis of the branches, often considerable in
the outer zone ; composition and range of cellular layers unequal.

As respects detailed remarks on the series of speciinens submitted
to examination, the manner of growth primarily demands attention ;
and it is best to consider first, the nature of the normal or branched
mode. No example was afforded in the collections of a base or of
a perfect upper extremity ; but sufficient proofs that the plan of
branching varied considerably. One instance exhibited a marked
tendency to regular bifurcations (fig. 5); another had a principal
stem with lateral off-shoots; while in some cases it was impossible
to reduce the ramifications to any plan. There was also no uniformity
in the distance between either the bifurcations or the lateral shoots.
The process which attended the branching was not satisfactorily
shown in the sections obtained; but if it was rightly understood
(fig. 6), there occurred, at the point where the abdominal cavities di-
verged outwards, a considerable development of additional hollows,
which assumed immediately the nature of a new axis, but less in dia-
meter than that of the parent stem. How far the diverging cavities
entered into the composition of the off-set was not visible; but it is
presumed, from the dichotomous specimen, that they contributed, for
a limited extent, to its composition : and a similar inference it is con-
ceived may be drawn respecting the instances of irregular off-shoots
generally. The branches gradually increased in thickness downwards ;

70 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

but the apertures of the cavities maintained throughout the same
character and relative surface-position or amount of protrusion, due
allowance being made for the state of preservation. This description
of increase deserves attention, as one means towards forming a correct
determination of the class to which an obscure fossil may belong. In
certain Bryozoa, as Hornera, a great downward thickening also oc-
curs; but the visceral cavities, which at the upper extremity of a
branch or main stem project considerably, are progressively immerged
by external additions to the surrounding interspaces ; and this surface-
change depends on the viscera occupymg permanently the same situa-
tion in the cavity, which, bemg once perfected, is not afterwards
lengthened. On the contrary, among Anthozoa of similar branched
modes of growth, the digestive organs occupy successively a higher
position, forming generally below them a thin plate or a complicated
structure ; and they are thus enabled to maintain constantly the
same relation with respect to the general surface, the cavity bemg
extended proportionably. Allusion has been already made more than
once to the existence of transverse plates in Choristopetalum impar ;
and im the character of the abdominal apertures is an additional con-
firmation of the fossil being a true Anthozoon ; while Heteropora has
been placed by general consent among the Bryozoa.

Respecting the parasitical mode of development, satisfactory evi-
dence was afforded by a translucent slice of a specimen which had
surrounded a well-defined apparently testaceous tube: that the en-
veloped body was not the sheath of a perforating mollusk, was evident
from the characters about to be noticed. Immediately on the tube
was an irregular layer of an indistinct nature, but plainly the base of
the coral; and upon it rested, in some places, more or less conform-
ably, abdominal cavities, which, after a limited but variable range,
inclined upwards or outwards: occasionally the hollows assumed al-
most at once a position vertical to the base; and a few, distinct cir-
cles marked, it was conceived, transverse sections of tubes, which had
taken a contrary line of growth: in one part also a decided fasciculus
or branch-like group sprung from the base, but it did not extend to
the surface, being overlaid by a confused aggregate of structures.
The coral zone throughout its whole circuit and breadth abounded
with indications of disturbed growth, with unconformable extensions
over portions which had been accidentally destroyed: in some places
likewise the abdominal cavities had a zigzag form ; the whole amount
of irregularities clearly indicating that the polypes had founded their
edifice wpon an unstable basis. Had this section been examined by
itself, the coral might have been considered as an Ascidian zoophyte
referable to the family Tubuliporidee*. Many however apparently
obscure signs of structure, and which might have been disregarded if
seen alone, became with the aid of more satisfactory evidence im-
portant proofs of the fossil’s true nature, and supported a different
conclusion. In the best-developed abdominal cavities a transverse

* Consult M. Milne-Edwards’s enlarged figure of Tubulipora verrucaria, Aun.
Sc. Nat., 2nd Ser., Zool., tome viii. pl. 12. fig. 16, 1838; or Recherches sur les
Polypes, &e.

1848. ] LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 71

plate was occasionally detected, agreeing with those fully exposed in
the vertical slice of a branched specimen ; while the absence of such
a lamina in many cavities only accords with what frequently occurs
in fossil Anthozoa, and has even led to a statement of their total
absence. Again, in one portion of the coral zone a cellular structure
was clearly shown between the visceral hollows, and distinguishable
from intersected tubes by irregularity of form, and more or less
marked approach to the arrangement of the layers in other slices.
Still further, in a vertical translucent section was noticed an overlying
or unconformable development, perfectly resembling those so abun-
dant in the parasitic section.

The surface-characters varied according to the amount of preser-
vation, and the state of development at the time of the animal’s de-
struction. Respecting worn conditions no remarks are necessary ;
but attention must be solicited to variations due to different states of
growth. The whole surface occasionally exhibited an irregular net-
work, and the apertures of the abdominal cavities could not always
be easily separated from the cellular composition. This indistinct-
ness was ascribed to the specimen having lost its vitality while a
cellular layer was forming, and the upper laminz of the cells had not
been produced. In cases of a tolerably preserved, mature surface
(fig. 11), the larger openings had a raised, bold rim, but the second-
ary were small, sometimes almost inconspicuous, and depressed. It
will be shown in a subsequent paragraph, that layers separated me-
chanically exhibited similar characters, proving that the condition
last-mentioned indicated a periodical perfecting of composition.

Among the internal structures, the abdominal cavities first claim
attention. Their great uniformity of dimension and considerable
range, as well as slight divergence in the axis of the branch, with a
sudden, almost horizontal course in the outer zone, were well-shown
in vertical sections (fig. 6); and similar characters were clearly
deducible from transverse slices (fig. 9, 10). The simple cross-
laminze were very often wanting, as already stated, but they occurred
in sufficient number to prove, that they formed one of the essential
structures of the coral. The interspace between the plates was va-
riable, but always considerable and unoccupied (fig. 6*); and no
marked difference was noticed between the laminz and intervals of
the axis and those of the outer zone (fig. 6). There was no accord-
ance in position in adjacent cavities (fig. 6*) ; and when the range
agreed with that of the upper or lower lamina of a concentric layer,
the coincidence was evidently accidental. Similar transverse laminze
with clear interspaces are well known to occur in the recent Heliopora
cerulea and Pocillopora damicornis; also in Favosites Gothlandica
and many other extinct corals ; but always with an aggregate of struc-
tures different from that of Choristopetalumimpar. In polished, opake
sections the boundary of the cavities appeared to be thick, and those
of adjacent cavities united; but in translucent slices, the thick wall
was shown to have a complex texture, which became markedly cel-
lular, where the intervals between the abdominal hollows increased ;
and even in the central axis the boundaries were divided by a fine,

72 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SociETY. [June 14,

bright line, more or less contmuous. The composition of the wall
was not satisfactorily ascertained ; but in roughly fractured sections,
which afforded occasionally a limited portion of a cavity unoccupied
by calcareous spar, minute foramina were visible.

The nature of the intermediate structure must next be noticed. A
fine, bright line (fig. 6), separating the walls of adjacent cavities
in the central area, has just been mentioned. It was not always
equally distinct, in consequence of structural imterference ; and it
was frequently crossed by filaments or laminze ; occasionally also in
some sections by a bolder band, which had a symmetrical arrange-
ment, and formed an apparently continuous arch. In transverse sec-
tions of the central area, the fine line was less evident, yet detectable.
The passage of this delicate interspace from the axis to the outer
zone was often obscured, but cases of decided increase of breadth
occurred as well as of more prominent cross-filaments, which gave
the imterval a cellular character. The equivalent space in the outer
zone was often narrow and clouded; but the degree of opacity was
unequal, and where least, small, shghtly translucent intervals were
separated by darker les; while im a transverse slice also with nearly
approximated abdominal cavities, simple or circular lines formed a
complete, intermediate, cellular structure. In some cases, the inter-
vals with a decided composition were clearly continuous with those
which separated the cavities m the central area. Where the space
between the visceral hollows was considerable (fig. 6), it consisted of
small, bright areas, sometimes oval, but more frequently of mdefinite
form, and surrounded by opake lines; occasionally these areas or
cells were arranged in definite rows, parallel to the exterior of the
branch, with a strong upper and lower continuous boundary; the
latter structure however was not always conspicuous, and in many
cases inclosed more than one row of cells. The natural surface of a
specimen has been stated to exhibit, under certain conditions of
growth, a general network; and its irregular meshes clearly occu-
pied the same position relative to the abdominal cavities as that of
the celis just mentioned : a branch likewise purposely worn down, as
nearly parallel to the exterior as possible, and without penetrating
beyond the outer zone, exhibited a similar network. The boundary
of the meshes or cells in both the natural and exposed surfaces was
continuous and thick, forming a perfectly surrounding wall, which
with the upper and lower laminee completely encompassed the areas.
It is inferred, from the cross-filaments in the fine intervals of the
axis, that those narrow spaces were cellular as well as the more am-
ple, and, therefore, that the occasional cloudiness before-mentioned
was due to the plane of intersection passing through or close to the
side-walls. With respect to the communications between the abdo-
minal cavities and the cells, and among the latter, where numerous,
it is sufficient to allude to the microscopic pores, already mentioned,
in the periphery of the visceral hollows, and to state, that similar
foramina, or bright specks representatives of them, were noticed in
the opake interspaces.

The concentric layers shown in fractured or weathered specimens

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 73

(fig. 5) next demand consideration ; but it is to the characters which
they exhibit in prepared sections (fig. 6) and mechanically-parted sur-
faces (fig. 7, 8) that attention must be chiefly confined. The struc-
ture was not noticed in the central area of one vertical slice (fig. 6) ;
but in another (fig. 6*), which displayed that portion of a branch to
a much greater extent, it formed a series of arched lines of unequal
curvature, and apparently continuous ; but in many instances the
layer did not extend across the abdominal cavity ; and where it did,
there was generally a slight cloudiness, as if a film of the wall or inter-
cellular structure had been included in the section: occasionally also
a transverse plate coincided in position with the curve. The greatest
distance between the centre of the arches never exceeded half a line,
and was often much less, while it gradually decreased as the lines
bent downwards and entered the outer zone. In that portion of the
coral, so far as could be ascertained (fig. 6), the concentric layers were
never far apart ; and this difference between the middle and surround-
ing areas apparently depended on the cylindrical mode of growth, the
upward development far exceeding the transverse. It may be further
remarked, that in the axis of the coral, the digestive organs had little
to nourish except the periphery of the cavity and themselves, the
intermediate structure being very small; whereas in the outer zone,
there was always a considerable amount of cellular composition ; and,
it is believed, that this unequal demand necessarily allowed but a slow
increase of outward to upward extension. Vertical or transverse slices
afforded however no evidence of the actual nature of the concentric
layers, as they exhibited not a sign of a bilaminated composition.
Accidental cross-fractures gave sometimes a central boss (fig. 9), con-
sisting of a smooth, apparently solid network with open meshes ; the
former evidently representing one of the arches of the axis; and the
latter proving that the concentric layer did not extend across the
abdominal cavities: moreover the smoothness showed, that the par-
tition had coincided with naturally separating surfaces. Minute
foramina not referable to young cavities were detectable in the sub-
stance of the network. Severed layers of the outer zone gave still
more satisfactory signs of composition ; and in one instance (fig. 7, 8)
the parted upper and lower lamine were preserved. First, as respects
the upper surface of the lower plate (fig. 7). The general surface
was more or less uneven, but smooth, or exhibited not the least trace
of having been structurally united to the upper lamina ; there were
also no projecting lines, like fractured edges of a reticulation. The
larger or abdominal openings were circular or oval, and had often a
raised margin; while the smaller apertures, sometimes minute, had
likewise a tendency to a round outline, but the margins were de-
pressed: and between the openings a furrow was occasionally detect-
able, marking, it was believed, the boundary of the subjacent cell.
The under surface of the upper lamina (fig. 8) presented structural
counterparts to those just mentioned—the abdominal apertures being
generally sunk, and the margin of the minor frequently raised ; there
were also traces of projecting lines answering to the furrows in the
lower plate. These corresponding structures showed that the superior

74 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

lamina had been moulded on the inferior, without being united to it ;
a pause having clearly intervened between the perfecting of one plate
and the secreting of the other; and the adaptation in the irregulari-
ties, or in the projections and depressions, would account for a bi-
fold composition not being visible in thin slices. The characters of
the minor openings would lead likewise to the imference, that those
apertures were, for a time at least, not wholly closed; but afforded a
direct, often a large means of communicating between successive
layers. Among existing corals the duthophyllum musicale of Ehren-
berg * possesses a cellular intermediate structure; but the cells or
vesicles have no similar foramina in their upper and lower laminee, nor
are they arranged in rows separable mechanically as in Choristopetalum
impar; the whole composition being an irregular aggregate of vesi-
cular cavities, and produced, according to Ehrenberg, by appendages
of the mantle (op. et. Gen. Char. p. 89). On the contrary, it is
believed, that the membrane, which secreted the outer surface of the
raised margin of the abdominal cavity, did not range far beyond that
structure, as it would be difficult to conceive, if an extension of the
mantle alone produced the cellular composition, why a relatively
large aperture should be kept open between a subjacent and superior
layer of cells in this case, and none should exist in Anthophyllum
musicale, &e. It is conceived, therefore, that the cells contained
within themselves the secreting membranes by which they were
formed, nourished as well as supplied with calcareous matter from
the digestive organs, by means of the lateral pores in the abdominal
cavity and the sides of the cells likewise: while at the fitting season
for developing another layer, the secreting membranes were extended
through the apertures in the pre-existing one, and when sufficiently
grown commenced forming the superstructure, a constant communi-
cation bemg kept up by aid of the necessarily corresponding openings.

Respecting the mode of developing additional cavities, very few
suggestions can be offered, and so far as was ascertained, they
were produced chiefly in the central area. In the middle of ho-
rizontal thin sections (fig. 10), small polygonal spaces were sur-
rounded by others of full size ; but they were not numerous; and in
acentral boss of a fractured branch, similar minute cavities occurred :
vertical slices also, to the extent to which they could be trusted,
being necessarily more or less oblique, on account of divergence in
growth, sanctioned an interpolated origm. Not a trace, under any
circumstances, was noticed of a divisional process within a mature
cavity, resembling that which exists in the Chetetes+ of M. Fischer.
No satisfactory evidence was obtained of additional cavities in the
outer zone; but this want of positive proof must not lead to the in-
ference, that they never exist im that portion of a branch. Among
existing corals, as De Blainville’s Sideropore and Lamarck’s Poezi-
lopore, young visceral hollows are produced most abundantly in the

* Beitrage, &c. p. 89; Caryophyllia musicalis, Lamarck, 2nd Ed., t. ii. p. 350,
no. 6. Consult Esper’s Pflanzenthiere, Madrep. tab. 30. fig. 2—4.

+ Geology of Russia, by Sir R. I. Murchison, M. de Verneuil and Count Keyser-
ling, vol. i. Appendix A. p. 594.

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 79

centre of a terminal branch, where the interspaces also are generally
very narrow; but in the part equivalent to the outer zone of the
lower greensand fossil, and at a considerable distance from the upper
extremity of the branch, small abdominal cavities sometimes appear.
In a specimen believed to be the Sid. seabra of De Blainville*, the
young receptacle was produced by the plates of the interspace ar-
ranging themselves so as to form an imperfect star ; while in Poei/-
lopora damicornis+, which has only rudiments of lamellee, the inci-
pient cavity was a small irregular hole; in Choristopetalum impar,
on the contrary, the additions were apparently made by the conversion
of a cell into a visceral hollow.

It remains to hazard an opinion relative to the systematic position
of the fossil. Little doubt can be entertained, that it should be as-
signed to the class Anthozoa; and its curious, complicated struc-
tures supply additional reasons why the term polype should not be
restricted to the tentaculated mouth and digestive organs; but ex-
tended, if for convenience sake it be retained, to the whole of the
animal, and anatomical terms applied to the individual structures ft.
In attempting however to define more precisely the position of the
extinct genus, the absence of lamellee or all representatives of them
presents a great difficulty. Among existing stony Anthozoa, Tudz-
pora is the only genus known to the compiler of these memoranda
which is equally deficient ; but that zoophyte is furnished with eight
pennated tentacula, and on that account is placed by Ehrenberg
among the eight radiated or lamellated coral animals (Beitrage, Syst.
Table). It would be clearly altogether incorrect to assume, that the
fossil under examination possessed, when alive, eight similar tenta-
cula; and much investigation is necessary before a positive agree-
ment between the number of those appendages and that of the lamellze
ean be admitted. Lesueur§ divided the corals, referred by him to
Astreea, into two groups, one provided with tentacula, the other de-
stitute of them ; notwithstanding all the species are many-lamellated;
and he describes Agaricia purpurea as without apparent tentacula
(op. cit. p. 276). Ehrenberg states his whole family, Mi/leporina,
wants that structure (op. cit. p. 122), but is furnished throughout
with six to twelve obsolete lamelle ; Mr. Dana, however, alludes to its
existence in the genus Pocillopora, as well as in a new species of Seria-
topora||. Explanaria Hemprichi 4, Pavonia cactus**, Tridacophyl-
lia lactucat+, and the small genus Echinoporatt, are described as
wanting tentacula; but they are all lamellated. Some of these state-
ments are possibly founded on animals which, at the time of obser-

* Man. d’Actinol. p. 384; Atlas, pl. 60. fig. 2.

+ Lamk. ii. p. 442; Esper’s Pflanzenthiere, Madrep. tab. 46 & 46 a.

+ Consult Dr. Grant’s Memoir on Flustre, Edin. New Phil. Journ., No. 5, p. 116,
1827; also M. Milne-Edwards’s Memoir on Recent Eschare, p. 24, Ann. des Sc.
Nat., 2nd series, Zool., tome vi. 1836, or Recherches sur les Polypes, &c.

§ Mém. du Muséum, tome vi. pp. 285, 286, &c.

|| Exploring Expedition, Zoophytes, pp. 523, 521. Ser. hystrix, 1846.

4 Ehrenberg, Beitrage, p. 82. ** Tbid. p. 109.

tt De Blainville, Man. d’Actinologie, p. 362.

tt Consult Mr. Dana, Expl. Exped. p. 277-278.

76 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

vation, were not fully expanded; yet many of them are given by au-
thorities sensible of the necessity of caution in that respect ; and it is
well known that those appendages vary greatly in their characters,
and are frequently very short or obsolete. This inquiry must not be
pursued further, but sufficient has been advanced to show, that there
is not an absolute agreement between lamelle and tentacula; and
therefore that it is not safe to reason from one structure to the other
in considering the place of an extinct coral in a systematic arrange-
ment. If, however, attention be confined to 7'ubipora, still, as before
remarked, it would be palpably wrong to assume, that a fossil, pos-
sessed of peculiarities totally wanting m the recent zoophyte, should
have had the same number of tentacula as that body; and still more
so, that those appendages, whatever may have been their amount,
should have had a similar conformation and distribution. From esta-
blished extinct genera, little assistance also can be obtained, though
they have had definite positions assigned them. Catenipora is knownto
have twelve furrows*, and Syringopora has more than that number+;
and such grooves are generally considered as representatives of la-
mellee; the difference depending on the membranes, which connected
the digestive sac with the sides of the cavity, not having been pro-
vided with secreting vessels. The Chetetes of M. Fischer{ has
neither rudiments of lamellee nor furrows, but the fisstparous manner
of producing additional hollows for the reception of digestive organs,
clearly forbids its being regarded as allied to Choristopetalum. Ehren-
berg states, from actual inspection, that the Calamopora Gothlandica
of Goldfuss (Favosites id. of Lamk.) has from six to twelve interrupted
lamellae (Beitrage, p. 122). No such points or papillee have been
hitherto noticed by the author of these remarks ima coral, believed to
be specifically identical with that described and figured by Fougt§,
and quoted by Lamarck ; though in British and foreign paleeozoic
fossils, allied to a variety of Goldfuss’s Cal. basaltica (Petref. pl. 26.
fig. 4 a) and Cal. alveolaris (fig. 1c, same pl.), they are very con-
spicuous, but in many cases far exceed the number mentioned by
Ehrenberg ; and they are often not reducible to definite series. Fully
admitting, nevertheless, the accuracy of his observation, still Calamo-
pora, as retained by him, cannot be considered simply as a 1 2-radiated
genus; its whole characters moreover bemg open to investigation ;
but, whatever may be its true systematic position, no aid can be de-
rived from its composition in determining that of the lower green-
sand zoophyte||. Lastly, the Alveolites of Lamarck (op. crt. p. 285),
assuming dlv. suborbicularis as the generic type, wants apparently
all equivalents for lamellee (consult Goldfuss, pl. 28. fig. 1); but the

* Ehrenberg, Beitrage, p. 120.

+ De Blainville, Man. d’Actinol. p. 353-354; also Geology of Russia by Sir
R. Murchison, M. de Verneuil and Count Keyserling, vol. i. Appendix A. p. 591.

t Oryctographie du Gouvernement de Moscou, p. 159, 1837.

§ Dissertatio de Coralliis Balticis, Amcen. Acad. vol. i. p. 211, plate, fig. 27, 1745,
edit. 1749; Lamarck, 2nd Edit., tome ii. p. 320.

|| It is impossible in this notice to discuss the distinctive characters of the
fossils composing M. Goldfuss’s Calamopora, as a full investigation of them would
occupy very many pages.

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 77

places assigned to it in general classifications* cannot be accepted
now, whatever may have been their value at the time of proposing.
Under this want of satisfactory guidance it is merely suggested that
the lower greensand genus should be considered as inferior in com-
position to the lameliated, so far as the want of vertical plates within
the abdominal cavity is concerned, leaving to future discoveries the
determining an approximate, right position.

The fossil which next claims attention appears to have been originally
named Astrea elegans, sp.u.f It consists (Pl. IV. fig. 12) of closely
approximated, abdominal cavities or stars, with more than twelve un-
equal lamellee; the bottom of the cavity is a simple, transverse lamina,
more or less crossed by the four most prominent lamellee (fig. 12*),
but no central union of these plates was detected, nor any reti-
culated central structure: the stars have no definite outer boundary,
the lamellee of one cavity frequently blending with those of the ad-
jacent hollows (fig. 12*): internally (fig. 13) the abdominal cavities
present a succession of laminze, varying in range, curvature and incli-
nation, and are sometimes intersected by vertical plates; while be-
tween them is a coarse cellular reticulation : additional cavities within
the area of a specimen occur between the pre-existing.

The only figured coral, known to the describer, which exhibits an
apparently similar combination of external characters, is the Astrea
alveolata of M. Goldfuss, found in the Jura-Kalk of Wurtemberg
(Petref. p. 65. tab. 22. fig. 3)t; but the internal structure is neither
alluded to nor represented. ‘The flat, simple flooring of the cavities
resembles however very closely that of the Atherfield fossil; and its
great dimensions are opposed to the inference of its being the upper
end of a solid central axis: in the limited, inward range of the lamellee,
there is also an accordance, as well as in their outward blending ; but
the comparison cannot be extended. Prof. Goldfuss’s species has
been removed by M. de Blainville to his own subgenus Siderastrea§;
it is therefore necessary to inquire, first, in what respect the lower
greensand zoophyte differs from Astrea, its original generic assign-
ment; and secondly, if it possesses the characters of M. de Blain-
ville’s subordinate group.

i. dstrea was one of Lamarck’s great dismemberments from the

* Consult Lamarck, 2nd Ed. t. ii. ‘‘ Polypiers a réseau,” pp. 210, 212 and 286;
also de Blainville, Man. d’ Actinol. “‘ Les Millepores,”’ pp. 400, 401 and 404.

T Quarterly Journal Geol. Soc. vol. iii. p. 296, Aug. 1847. M. Goldfuss has
described under the same designation a Maestricht coral (Petref. p. 69, pl. 23. fig. 6
—6 d); subsequently removed by M. de Blainville to the genus Heliopora (op. cit.
ante, p. 393). In the Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 2nd ser.,
vol. iv. pp. 204 and 351, 1837, Dr. Fitton notices the existence of an Astra at
Atherfield Point, possibly the fossil under consideration.

{~ M. Michelin, in describing his greensand coral Astrea cribraria, found at
Avignon, notices a seeming agreement with Ast. alveolata, but he states that the
lamellz, in fully exposed cavities, extend to the centre. (Iconographie Zoophyto-
logique, p. 21, pl. 5. fig. 4.)

§ Man. d’Actinol. p. 371, Ast. Siderastrea cavernosa; and 2nd Ed. Lamarck,
t. ii. p. 421, No. 745.

78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [June 14,

Madrepore and Astroites of preceding authorities; but the then*
state of knowledge necessarily occasioned a want of definiteness of
leading characters. He nevertheless limited his genus to hemisphe-
rical and globular corals, with circular or subangular stars on the sur-
face ; but he did not assign any restriction to the number of lamelle;
neither did he call attention to peculiarities of internal composition,
and their influence on external characters ; nor to the mode by which
young stars are developed. This want of precision, unavoidable forty
or thirty years ago, has gradually become an increasing source of
error, by being too closely adopted; and the evil assumes a still graver
aspect in extending the study from recent to extinct zoophytes, espe-
cially if the geological age of the fossil should be remote. Lamarck,
in his edition of 1816, gave only two extinct species, Ast. reticulata
and 4. emarciata, corals possessing very opposite compositions ; but
M. De Francet and Prof. Goldfusst subsequently described a great
amount of additional species, without however any essential improve-
ment of the generic characters. M. de Blainville grouped in sub-
genera (op. cit. p. 366 et seq.) the great mass of materials, recent
and fossil, of previous authorities, adopting for his basis chiefly the
form and relative position of the stars, slight advantage being also
taken of the nature of the lamellee ; but no allusion is made to struc-
tural combinations, or to the plan of producing young stellated cavi-
ties. ‘* Plusieurs de ces groupes,” says M. Milne-Edwards, ‘ parais-
sent étre naturels et devront probablement, lorsqu’on connaitra la
structure des polypes qui y appartiennent, constituer des genres
distinets.’’? (Lamk. i. p. 404.) The groups however have not been
adopted even for existing corals, though they undoubtedly present an
onward arrangement ; and if paleontologists, who can never hope to
see the living animal of the subjects of their research, had studied
M. de Blainville’s subgenera with the aid of specimens and modern
discoveries, many anomalous determinations might have been avoided.
In Ehrenberg’s Memoir on the Corals of the Red Sea (Beitrige, p. 95),
far greater precision is given to the genus Astrea, by limiting it to
those many-lamellated species which have the stellated cavities in
juxtaposition, and which produce young stars, within the area of a
specimen, by a fissiparous process ; while the species in which a simi-
lar mode of increase exists, but the stars have more or less clear in-
tervals between them, are placed in a distinct genus, Favia (op. cit.
p- 93); and those which develope new cavities between the pre-
existing are removed to another family. Mr. J. D. Dana, in his re-
cent work on Zoophytes$, arranges the corals referred by himself to
Astrea in three subgenera :-—

* Astrea was established by Lamarck in the Ist Ed. of his Hist. des Anim. sans
Vert. published in 1801. The author of this notice cannot refer to it, but the
classification is given by De Blainville, op. cit. p. 35. The Seven-volume Edition
was commenced in 1816; and M. Milne-Edwards’s edition, termed the second, in
1835.

+ Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles, tome xlii. 1826.

t Petrefacta, &c., vol. i. 1826-1833.

§ Exploring Expedition, Zoophytes, pp. 200, 205, 1846.

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 79

1. Orbicella, in which the “cells” (stellated cavities) do not sub-
divide, or rarely, and appear to be tubular with interstices.

2. Siderina, in which the “cells”? do not subdivide, nor appear to
be tubular.

3. Fissicella, in which “the cells subdivide by growth and bud-
ding.”

“4 this arrangement therefore corals are generically re-united,
though the productive processes differ, being non-fissiparous in Side-
rina, rarely fissiparous in Orbicella, and essentially so in Fissicella.
Lastly, Mr. Gray of the British Museum, in a paper published, F'c-
bruary 1847, in the Annals of Natural History, ‘on an arrangement
of Stony Corals,” doubts where the Astrea of Lamarck should be
placed ; but introduces the genus provisionally (’) into the family
Agariciade, one division of a great group or order characterized by
‘the animal growing by spontaneous division.” (op. ezt. p. 128.)

This brief summary of opinions entertained by five systematic
writers, whose resources and means for forming a right judgement
have been most extensive, leads to the inference, that the essential
characters of Astrea, even as respects existing species, remain to be
fixed. The abstract shows, nevertheless, that the latest authorities
coincide in regarding the fissiparous process as an element of the
genus; and it is believed that all the corals hitherto considered as
Astree, in which it does not occur, or so rarely as to be an excep-
tion, possibly an accidental condition, should be removed to another
family or order.

But the paleontologist must not consider a fissiparous increase in
a circumscribed star as sufficient to prove that the fossil in which it
is detected is an Astrea. Among existing globular corals with per-
fectly bounded cavities, the operation is not effected uniformly ; and
the variations in connection with other structural peculiarities may
be found valuable in proposing generic or subgeneric groups. In a
recent coral, believed to be the Astrea (Favastrea) magnifica of
M. de Blainville*, the divisional process commences by the develop-
ment of a reticulation among the lamellze, or the forming on one side
of the cavity of a new centre, equivalent in position with an additional
digestive apparatus. It is not a partition from a previous reticulated
centre, but a distinct structure separated by a clear, simply lamellated
interval. Subsequently a divisional barrier is constructed, towards
which the young digestive organs evidently supply a modicum of
materials. Ast. magnifica belongs to Ehrenberg’s true Astr@e ; and
the stars expand as they grow upwards, so as to leave no interspace;
and it is impossible to conceive how, under such conditions, a new
cavity could be formed, except within the area of one previously
existing. Astrea porcata of Lamarck (op. cit. p. 406, No. 7)+
affords an example of a different mode of effecting a subdivision. In

* Man. d’Actinol. p. 374, Group. I. pl. 54. fig. 3; consult also Mr. Dana, op. cit.
p. 231.

t Ast. (Meandriniforma) id., De Blainville, op. cit. p. 367. Favia of Ehren-
berg, Beitrage, p. 94. Consult Esper’s Pflanzenthiere, Mad. pl. 71; also Dana,
Zooph. p. 226.

80 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

that coral the fissiparous process passes through the reticulation,
sometimes producing a perfect bipartition. The characters of the
abdominal cavity are also different, and the lineal extension of the
central network is so much greater, that it would be almost impos-
sible to form a new receptacle for viscera within a previous area
without including a portion of the reticulation. There is a farther
very marked structural distinction m the stars bemg separated by
broad intervals, one of the characters on which Ehrenberg founded
his generic separation, Favia. 'The existence of those spaces might
lead to the supposition that young stars would be developed among
them. Their existence however was clearly necessary for the pecu-
liar construction of the animal; and in neither Esper’s figures (op. cit.
pl. 71), nor m a specimen of similar dimensions, was the upwards
growth sufficient to occasion a considerable radiation ; while the pro-
gressive thickening of the intervals between divided cavities seemed
fully to meet the effects of divergence and prevent an excessive di-
stance between the stars: moreover, not a sign of a young interpola-
tion could be discovered. This inquiry must not be continued far-
ther ; but in the two cases quoted, considerable differences are shown
to attend the fisstparous process, accompanied by marked structural
variations, and they are sufficient to induce caution in studying
organic remains. Among fossil corals other perfectly distinct modes
occur of developing additional cavities within the pre-existing ; and
the author of this notice erred, when in 1839 he retained, even pro-
visionally, the term Ast. ananas for a Silurian fossil*. With re-
spect to the Atherfield zoophyte, not a vestige of a subdivision was
discovered in the many specimens submitted to examination by
Dr. Fitton.

u. M. de Blamville having removed Ast. alveolata to Siderastrea
(ante, p. 77), the composition of that subgenus must now be noticed,
as well as the amount of agreement with M. Goldfuss’s species and
the lower greensand fossil. Prof. Edwards considers the group as
possessing marked characters (Lamk. p. 404). It comprised origi-
nally three recent and twenty-eight fossil species ; but respecting the
former some diversity of opinion will be found in the following equi-
valents :—

1. Ast.Siderastrea siderea, De Bl. p.370 = Pavonia id., Dana, Expl. Exp. p.331, 1846.
2. — galaxea, 7 » =Nitderinaid., ,, oh. ats o Taee
3.—- cactus, ,, », =Pavoniaid., Ehrenb., Beitrige, p. 105.

Respecting the first species as originally described in Ellis and So-
lander little is known+, and Mr. Dana (loc. cit.) doubts the correct-
ness of Lesueur’s identification with it of a West Indian coralt. The
animal of the latter is moreover stated to be tentaculated, and that of
Ast. galaxea to be non-tentaculated (Lesueur, op. cit. p. 285). Under
these circumstances it would be unadvisable to adopt Ast. siderea as

* See Sir R. I. Murchison’s work on the Silurian System, p. 688, pl. 16. fig. 6.

+ Consult the figure, pl. 49. fig. 2, of Ellis and Sol. or Lamouroux, Expos.
Méthod.

t Mém. du Muséum, t. vi. p. 286, pl. 16. fig. 14.

1848. ] LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 8]

the type of the group. Asé. Sid. cactus was removed to Pavonia by
Ehrenberg, who obtained living specimens in the Red Sea (/oe. cit.),
on the borders of which Forskal procured the coral originally, but m
a semi-fossil state* (De BI. p. 370).

Ast. galaxea is a well-known coral, and the animai has been de-
scribed by Lesueur (op. ert. p. 285, pl. 16. fig. 13), who also states
that Ellis and Solander’s figure (tab. 47. fig. 7, or Lamx.) is “ trés
bien faite.” More than one species of possibly distinct genera have
however been included under the term 4. Sid. galawea. Lesueur states
that his West Indian coral is non-tentaculated, whereas MM. Quoy
and Gaimard have referred to the same specific name a New Holland
zoophyte found by themselves, the polypes of which had apparently
white tentacules+. Specimens supplied by an experienced Londcn
dealer in natural history as Ast. galaxea, and which differed not to
the unassisted eye from Ellis and Solander’s figure, afforded the fol-
lowing structures. Small abdominal cavities of variable form, having
at the base a bladder-like lamina or a series of minute projections :
lamellee numerous, knife-shaped, frequently but not regularly grouped
in threes, edges serrated; in their outward range the lamelle of ad-
jacent cavities sometimes unite and constitute apparently continuous
plates: spaces between them crossed by roundish bars which divide
the intervals into a quadrangular network, the meshes penetrating
deeply downwards; where the lamellze of adjacent cavities coincide,
the bars assume the appearance of a continuous line ; but where the
plates are disconnected, there is often a crenulated structure. Ina
vertical section, the lamellze present broad, perpendicularly continuous
plates imperforated except towards the axis of the coral ; but they are
beset with longitudinal rows of large papillee, the broken extremities
of the bars, and they are occasionally crossed by delicate irregular
laminee, the fractured edges of the bladder-like structure. The cen-
tral axis is nearly solid, and composed of the union of the broadest
lamellze ; the whole interior of the cavity, except that occupied by the
living digestive organs, being traversed vertically by lamellee and cross-
wise by the bars. The young stars are wholly produced in the net-
work without the area of the mature. A careful comparison of these
characters with the structures of Ehrenberg’s Astree or Favie will
lead to the conelusion that Stderastrea galaxea may be assumed as
the type of a true genus; and the compiler of these memoranda has
long possessed another well-distinguished species. It is not possible
to compare the leading component parts of the recent coral with
those of the twenty-eight fossil species. Siderastrea cristata has
similarly papillated lamellee (consult Goldf. pl. 22. fig. 8c), but the
ageregate of structures appears to be different, while in Sid. clathrata
(Goldf. pl. 23. f. 1) there is no resemblance whatever. Confining
the attention, however, to Ast. or Sid. alveslata (Goldf. pl. 22. f. 3),

* Ehrenberg describes the animal as wanting tentacula (loc. cit.); and Mr.
Dana, in his account of Pavonia, states, that ‘‘ when alive and expanded, the ten-
tacules appear as mere inflations of the exterior membrane around each polype¢
mouth, and are extremely short.”—Expl. Exped., Zoophytes, p. 320,

+ Milne-Edwards, 2nd Ed, Lamarck, t. ii. p. 418,

VOL. V.—PART I, G

82 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [June 1/4,

it will be found that the resemblance is limited to additional cavities
being in each case interpolated, with an occasional union of lamellee
in their outward extension. The latter structure presents in the fossil
species, instead of thin plates, with a deep, open, intermediate net-
work, broad, rounded ridges in close contact (Goldf. fig. 3a); and
there is necessarily a total absence of mtervening textures; the area
of the abdominal cavity also, in place of being contracted by extensions
of numerous lamelle, is but slightly encroached upon, and the bottom
of the cavity has apparently a uniform composition. The comparison
cannot be extended. In these structures however, Sid. alveolata
agrees perfectly with the lower greensand fossil, and the latter is
consequently to that extent equally distinct from Sid. galavea. HU
the internal composition of the recent coral be considered with refer--
ence to that of the Atherfield zoophyte, great dissimilitudes will be
evident. The lamellee, instead of being thin throughout and appa-
rently simple, solid plates, are in the fossil, as already stated, broad
(fig. 12*), and are internally cellular, and necessarily without separated
sides beset with papille: the abdominal cavity again, in lieu of being
progressively oecupied by numerous vertical lamelle united in the
centre of the area into a solid axis, is penetrated to a limited extent
by only four attenuated lamellee-edges, and is successively crossed by
laminee of variable transverse range and curvature, without a trace of
an axis. These differences, it is conceived, fully justify the conclusion
that the fossil under examination is not a Siderastrea, and it is be-
heved that M. Goldfuss’s coral possesses a similar generic composition.

ii. It is not necessary to dwell even generally upon the established
recent and fossil groups, which resemble the lower greensand zoophyte
in being aggregated and many-lamellated ; also im having the abdo-
minal cavities crossed by laminze without a continuous vertical axis,
likewise in having additional stars developed in the interspaces ; as in
only one instance, the Cyathophora of M. Michelin, is there such a
combination of structural agreements as to warrant a detailed com-

arison.

M. Michelin states that Cyathophora Richardi+ consists of aggre-
gated polygonal tubes divided by diaphragms ; the stars deep, subpo-
lygonal, radiated to a small distance, and the margin thick. He adds,
that the lateral lamellee are little visible, though numerous, resembling
strice ; and that the plates m the terminal star cover scarcely half the
surface of the last transverse lamina. His figure 1 a represents a
considerable diversity of range, inclination and curvature in the plates
which cross the cavities ; but neither the description nor the illustra-
tions afford any information respecting the composition of the lamellee,
or of the spaces between the abdominal receptacles ; there is also no
allusion either in the generic or specific notice to the mode of deve-
lopmg young “tubes,’’ but the small, round depression in figure | 4
indicates an interpolated origin.

In attempting to compare these characters with the structures of
the lower greensand fossil, it must be mentioned that weather-worn

ft Iconographie Zoophytologique, p. 104, pl. 24. fig. la, 10, 1844?

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 83

or abraded portions of the latter showed as little of the real nature of
the intervals between the visceral cavities, as the delineations in the
‘Iconographie Zoophytologique ;’ and such surfaces would not excite
even a suspicion that certain lamelle ranged from one star to another,
or that they were cellular. The transverse laminze in the vertical
delineation of the French coral (op. cit. pl. 26. fig 1 @) differed in
dimension only from those shown in cut sections of the Atherfield
fossil (fig. 13), and the vertical edges of the lamelle are about as di-
stinctly marked in fig. 1 @ (op. cét.) as in weathered internal portions of
lower greensand specimens. The rays faintly, and no doubt faithfully
represented in M. Michelin’s figure 1 4, are more numerous than in
the English species, but they are possibly not thimner than the four
attenuated edges already mentioned; it is moreover impossible to
surmise what might be the number of converging plates, or the amount
of range, under particular conditions of growth. The lamellee of
Heliopora cerulea are almost rudimentary during the upward deve-
lopment of the abdominal cavity, but on the latter attaming appa-
rently its final extension, they stretch across the whole area, meeting
in the centre. M.Goldfuss says that from six to eight plates of
Ast. alveolata project beyond the others; but the edges are blunt,
from abrasion probably, the usual state of those in Atherfield speci-
mens. The number of protruded lamelle, as well as the relative
amount of range under equal stages of growth, should however be
regarded only as specific distinctions, and in nowise opposed to generic
identity. Additional cavities within the circuit of the English fossil
were invariably interpolated ; and such was most probably the case in
the French coral. The agreements just noticed are few ; nevertheless,
in Cyathophora Richardi no structure has been detected which does
not exist in the British zoophyte. It is therefore proposed to adopt
provisionally M. Michelin’s generic name with the specific term
_ elegans, that the connexion with the original announcement in the
- Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society may be evident. Should
\ however palzeontologists hereafter show that the French coral differs
“Im the unascertained portions from the English, it is suggested that
the latter might be designated Holocystis (édos, totus, kierus, vesica),
from its being wholly composed of bladder-like cells. In a systematic
arrangement, the genus, by whatever name it may be distinguished,
should be totally removed from the family or order in which Astrea
‘is placed, and assigned to that which contains the many-lamellated,
‘non-fissiparous groups.

CYATHOPHORA ! ELEGANS, 0. sp.

(Puate IV. fig. 12 to 15.)

Spec. char.—Incrusting, also heniispherical, globular or amorphous ;
abdominal cavities small, very numerous, polygonal or circular,
margin not raised; interior of cavities formed of lamella-edges;
bottom of cavities a slightly convex lamina, inferior or deserted
portion occupied by transverse, irregular, bladder-like cells: in-
terspaces between the cavities narrow, composed of outward exten-

84 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEGLOGICAL society. [June 14,

sions of lamellee: lamelle thick, four markedly prominent, dividing
the cavity to a limited extent into four equal paris; three inter-
mediate lamellee, the middle one projecting slightly ; perfect edges
within the abdominal cavities attenuated, casts of edges blunt ;
crest of lamellee, where preserved, sharp, casts obtuse ; lamellee of
adjacent cavities sometimes confluent; sides in contact ; interior
composed of small bladder-like cells: young cavities developed at
the junction of lamellee belonging to two or more cavities.

Dr. Fitton describes the Perna beds of the Atherfield section as
varying from dark blue sandy clay, or mud, to greenish sand; and
the upper bed from which Cyath.? elegans was obtained, as differing
chiefly im compactness and durability*. To the origmally loose con-
dition of the deposit, the variations in form presented by the series
of specimens may, it is conceived, be chiefly ascribed. When the germ
settled upon a Perna or a large fragment of a shell not easily over-
turned, the lateral expansion was great compared to the upper growth.
In the Museum of the Geological Society is an enerusting specimen
presented by Mr. Simms, F.G.8., which measures 34 inches in one
direction and 21 in the other, while the vertical height in the centre was
apparently limited to about 2rds of aninch. Qn the contrary, where
the base was small, the coral assumed more or less rapidly an hemi-
spherical, globular or oval contour. In the first of these forms the
shape may be readily ascribed to the arenaceous nature of the bed on
which the specimen rested, and which did not allow of a lateral ex-
tension; while the nearly globular or oval examples evidently owed
their configuration to a complete or partial inversion, which permitted
the living margins to extend over the previous base more or less per-
fectly. In such cases the soft portions of the reversed surfaces must
have perished, and proofs of such partial destructions were exhibited
in many instances. In one case a limited area presented a rugged
aspect, the roughness arising clearly from the animal of that part
having been killed during the formation of a series of cells; and the
adjacent living polype-matter had been prevented from extending
afterwards fully over the dead surface, in consequence, it 1s conceived,
of the latter having been immersed in sand or mud. A weathered or
abraded area is easily distinguished from such an exterior by its uni-
form smoothness. Amorphous masses plainly resulted from success-
ive interferences with development, and probably from an imbedding
more or less deeply in sediment. In all these cases Cyath. ? elegans
exhibits a similar tendency to marginal expansions, limited or modi-
fied in direction by the extent of the body on which the germ origi-
nally settled, and the nature of the bed on which the subsequent
specimen rested, as well as the liability to be displaced by waves ; but
there is an obvious effort to assume an hemispherical contour, when
the base was small, and thence one more or less globular. In these
respects the fossil agrees with Siderastrea, Astrea, Meandrina and
other existing corals, provided with a creeping or downward expand-
ing, proliferous mantle ; by which the edge of a specimen is constantly

* Quart. Journ. of the Geological Society of London, vol. iii. p. 294, Aug. 1847.

1848. ] LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 85

brought in close contact with the subjacent surface, and inverted
portions on being re-exposed are overlaid. On the contrary, through-
out the fine series submitted to examination, not the least attempt was
detected, under any irregularity of growth, to assume a turbinated
outline, with a large pedicle, surrounded by a solid lamina—a mode
of growth characteristic of Ehrenberg’s Manicina, a dismemberment
from Meandrina; also of some fossil Anthozoa; and due, in the former .
case at least, to the edge of the mantle being free and inckned up-
wards.

Of the earliest plan of development, or from a single germ, no in-
stance was observed ; nor of a state resembling that which in some re-
cent and extinct genera distinguishes the period when the coral natu-
rally ceased to increase in part or whollyt. The specimens gene-
rally varied in diameter from about 1 to rather more than 3 inches ;
the largest was an amorphous mass nearly 4 inches high, 34 wide,
and 24 thick.

The original substance of the coral was rarely preserved on the
exterior; but in two beautiful examples belonging to the Geological
Society’s Museum, one of which was obtained by Dr. Fitton at the
Red Hill cuttmg near Reigate (fig. 14), it prevailed over the whole sur-
face, and presented a uniformly opake-white layer. In polished sec-
tions of the interior it constantly occurred under the form of opake,
whitish laminze; generally, however, the specimens displayed externally
broad, rounded casts (fig. 12*), in brown calcareous spar, of the
inner surface of the original layer, in those cases in which the deve-
lopment of a set of structures had been completed previously to de-
struction ; but in those in which that event happened while the work
was in progress, the surface gave casts of narrow ridges with interme-
diate hollows or furrows (fig. 15).

The area of mature abdominal cavities rarely exceeded a lne in
diameter, and was often less, measuring from the lateral union of the
lamelle ; while that of the simple stomach-sac, marked by the. in-
terval between the edges of the four projecting plates, was about half
a line. The greatest depth of the cavity, so far as could be ascer-
tained, was also one line. The shape was irregular, but a rounded
outline prevailed, the periphery being defined by the sidewise-united
lamellee, without a trace of a distinct lmmg. The laminz forming
the base of the cavity were apparently concave or uneven, judging
from the casts; and a similar charaeter was shown in vertical sec-
tions. Beneath the last-occupied abdominal space, prominently de-
fined in purposely-exposed interiors by a series of notches (fig. 13),
occur numerous curved lamine, forming a complicated cellular struc-
ture, which is sometimes traversed perpendicularly by the edge of a
projecting lamella. The whole downward range of these deserted

+ Ehrenberg, Beitrage, p. 101. For clear delineations of the mode of growth
among recent species, consult Sol. and Ellis, or Lamouroux, tab. 47. fig. 4 and 5,
tab. 51. fig. 1; also Esper, Pflanzenthiere, Madrepora, tab. 4: and among fossil
corals, see M. Michelin, Iconog. Zoophytol. pl. 44. fig. 9a, pl. 51. fig. 1 and 4,
pl. 54. fig. 9, pl. 68. fig. 4, and pl. 70. fig. la and 4a.

t Quart. Journ. of the Geological Society of London, vol.i. p. 498-499, 1845.

86 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

abdominal areas was very rarely exhibited, in consequence of the in-
tersections being necessarily more or less oblique; and it was fre-
quently obscured, especially towards the lower part of the specimen
figured, by the intervention of portions of lamellee with a still more
intricate cellular composition. The sides of the cavities sometimes
presented traces of a vertical wall, or a nearly even plate, the at-
tenuated edge possibly of a lamella; but the boundary consisted very
often of curved laminze, belonging clearly to the cells which formed
the body of the lamellee. Occasionally (fig. 13(*)) a cavity displayed
proofs of the polype-memhranes having been lacerated, and for a time
intermingled, the side-structure being for a limited distance defective
or wanting, and the transverse laminz apparently extended into the
lamellated area. Other instances of abnormal development were
noticed.

In considering the characters of the lamelle, the perfect exteriors
first claim attention. The beautiful specimen from Red Hill (fig. 14)
already mentioned, and another equally fine, presented to the Geolo-
gical Society by Mr. Warburton or Mr. Austen, if hastily compared
with Atherfield casts, might be regarded as specifically distinct. The
outline of the component structures, instead of being broad and
rounded, was relatively narrow and crested, with more or less of
interspace ; but the number of the lamelle as well as their detailed
arrangement was similar in each case; a part also of the Red Hill
specimen, slightly abraded, exhibited a considerable mcrease of
breadth. The whole exterior of the perfect coral-layer was rugose
or papillated; and the surface of the portion on the sides of the
abdominal cavities was minutely perforated. That no specific dif-
ferences existed between these specimens and those found at Ather-
field will, it is hoped, be established by the followmg statements.
A Peasemarsh coral (fig. 15), found by Mr. Austen, preserved also
its original substance; but the structure was in an immature state,
presenting narrow ridges and hollows, the animal having been
destroyed while a probably periodical addition was in progress.
The ridges bore the semblance of ordinary lamelle; but some of
those which had been accidentally broken showed that they were
not portions of vertically contmuous plates, the subjacent exposed
substance consisting of pale brown calcareous spar; and fractured,
attenuated edges of prominent lamellee, subdivided, where the thick-
ening commenced, ito two plates, which diverged to the right and
left. The ridges therefore must not be regarded as simple lamellee,
similar to those which occur in Siderastrea galaxea; nor must the
intermediate depressions be considered the equivalents of the qua-
drangular network in that coral; the whole presenting the rudiments
of a fabric, and not a perfected construction, as in the recent species.
An Atherfield specimen, given to the Geological Society by Mr. War-
burton, exhibited casts of a perfectly similar structure to that of the
Peasemarsh example; and a comparison of it with an equally im-
mature portion of one of the broad casts from the former locality,
proved that the three compositions were essentially identical. Inter-
mediate stages between the condition exhibited by the Peasemarsh

1848.] LONSRALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 87

fossil and the perfected exterior of that found at the Red Hill cut-
ting were not observed ; but wherever the original coral-layer had
been accidentally removed from the crests of the latter, the sub-
jacent substance consisted of brown calcareous spar, resembling that
alluded to in the remarks on Mr. Austen’s specimen; and in both
cases a fine lamina could frequently be detected in the spar, not
ranging in the direction of the crest, but transversely or obliquely to
it. The broad lamelle-casts (fig. 12*) often displayed a slightly
raised line, moulded clearly in the crest of the perfect external layer ;
and the whole surface was minutely indented or pitted ; but it would
be difficult to infer from it, or even from’abraded portions, without
other aid, the actual composition of the lamelle. Nearly vertical
sections (fig. 13) afforded however the requisite evidence. By con-
necting the surface-ridges with the projections between the vacant
abdominal cavities, it was manifest the structure of the projections
must be that of the ridges, and the section proved it to be irregularly
cellular. The breadth of these lamellated interspaces, as well as
their characters, varied greatly on account of the exposed surface sel-
dom passing through equivalent areas, or through similar portions
of a lamella. Sometimes a single series of cells or arched laminze
indicated that the cutting passed through only one of the surface-
ridges; but generally the space included two or more irregular, ver-
tical rows, marking the intersection of an equivalent number of ribs
or lamelle. ‘The boundary between the series was seldom well-de-
fined, consisting chiefly of curved downward extensions of the laminz
forming the top of the cell; and it agreed, therefore, with that of
abdominal cavities. The cells varied greatly in form, size and posi-
tion, and it was often difficult to trace the complete contour ; but
the component element was clearly an arched plate; and the changes,
whether in outline, dimensions or situation, were only such as would
naturally result from the secreting membranes having been success-
ively produced as the coral extended upwards. These cells were ma-
nifestly the hollows of the Peasemarsh specimen covered over; and
the irregular manner in which they were often piled on each other
would account for the complete fillmg-up between the crests of the
perfected exterior. That the crests themselves were not detected in
the sections, was ascribed to not an instance being observed of a di-
rectly transverse intersection of a lamella. Within the cells frequently
occurred subordinate, thinner lamin, not referable, it was conceived,
to dislocated fragments, but they bore the semblance of a secondary
structure more or less produced within the primary. In some recent
corals, as the Dendrophyllia ramea of M. de Blainville, a considerable
filling-up is effected in the area of the abdominal cavity not imme-
diately occupied by the stomach-sac. The two cases are not strictly
analogous ; nevertheless the animal matter which occupied the cells
in Cyathophora? elegans was doubtlessly nourished by the digestive
organs, so long as they occupied a position to afford support to a
given vertical area; and in addition to the minute pores in the sides
of the cavities, the Peasemarsh specimen showed that the partitions
between successive cells were also finely punctured, affording addi-

88 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [June 14,

tional meaus for transmittmg support and calcareous matter through-
out the whole of the living portion of the polype. From the foregoing
statements it 1s inferred, that the narrow crested lamellee are only the
perfect external state of the broad-ribbed casts, and that the lamelle
are strictly cellular bodies. A notice on the composition of that
structure generally would occupy very many pages; but attention
may be called to three different examples. In an appendix to Sir
R. I. Murchison’s work on the Geology of Russia*, imstances of a
bi-plated composition are mentioned; Mr. Dana alludes to hollow
iamellee in his description of Ast. Orbicella curta} ; and Prof. Gold-
fuss, ix his delineations of the Astrea explanata of Count Munster tf,
exhibits a curiousty catenated character. The mtimate construction
of lamellee deserves the careful study of corapetent physiologists, and
it is conceived that it will be found of great value in attempting to
establish generic and specific distinctions.

The plan of producing additional cavities for digestive organs re-
mains to be noticed. Respecting marginal developments, no satis-
factory cases were observed of immature states; the boundaries of
the lateral extensions presentmg a smooth, solid edge (fig. 12), mdi-
cative of the animal having been impeded in its operations, and having
completed its structures previous to death. Some of these visceral
hollows were also small, as if sufficient room had not been afforded
for a normal construction; one of the characteristies of such cavities
being an area of full or mature dimensions at every stage of formation,
whenever adequate space exists. Of young interpolations many ex-
amples were noticed. The Red Hill cutting specimen afforded a
good instance of an early, but not the first condition (fig. 14). It
was surrounded by mature hollows; the form was almost quadrangu-
lar, the width about half a line; and the lamelle, so far as eould be
ascertained,—some having been broken,—had been equally developed
on all sides, with indications of four projectmg beyond the rest. Near
that case was another rather more advanced, the size bemg greater
and the lamellee more numerous. Many similar productions occurred
in the same specimen as well as among the broad Atherfield casts
(fig. 12), allowance being made for different states of preservation.
In all cases the relative degree of development was about equal around
the interior of the young cavity; and the adjacent mature hollows
did not display any defect on the side next the mterpolation ; whereas
in fissiparous processes the lamellee in early stages are rudimentary
along the line of partition, as respects both the parent and the severed
offspring, but elsewhere, in each case, of full dimensions. ‘Twin pro-
ductions were not uncommon. They resembled a long incipient hol-
low divided about the middie, each cavity being similar in size and

* Vol. i. App. A., art. Stylastrea inconferta, p. 621-622, 1845. Count Key-
serling in his work on the Petschoia-Land, dissents from the bi-plated structures
mentioned in the notice of that coral; but the author begs to adhere to his ori-
ginal statement (Wissenschaftliche Beobachtungen auf einer Reise in das Petschora-
Land, p. 153, 1843).

+ Exploring Expedition, Zoophytes, p. 209-210; consult also p. 53, 1846.

{ Petrefacten, vol. i. p. 112, pl. 38. fig. 14 4,4.

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 89

structural development. All the interpolations of Cyathophora?
elegans clearly originated in the hemispherical or radiating mode of
growth, by which greater interspaces were produced than accorded
with the ordinary range of the cellated lamellz. At the incipient
points that structure apparently ceased to be formed continuously,
and a small area was the result, surrounded by the edges of a very
limited number of parted lamelle. Even in this earliest state,
therefore, the essential parts of a cavity existed, and could be
supported without the aid of a new digestive apparatus, the com-
ponent structures being portions of the adjacent mature hollows
and nourished by them. As the old lamellee extended upwards, the
young receptacle deepened and widened, and became fit to contain its
own alimentary organs, and thereby add to the framework. ‘This
manner of production explains why some lamellee may extend com-
pletely between two adjacent cavities, and the remainder have only
a limited range. In Stderastrea galaxea the interpolating process
is modified in conformity with the peculiarities of the coral. The
mature abdominal hollows are separated by somewhat broad and
raised interspaces, and the first signs of an additional one is a shallow
depression, due apparently to a suspension of calcareous secretions.
In that state no new lamine are visible; the bottom and sides of the
little concave area being composed of smooth plates and transverse bars
belonging to the quadrangular network; but in a slightly advanced
stage, finely attenuated additions had been made to the edges of the
former, so far as they bordered the sides of the cavity, whereby they
assumed a decidedly lamellated character ; while in other cases, which
exhibited a little further progress, similar plates had acquired the
form and disposition of converging lamelle, with a small central
axis; the young hollow resembling a diminutive mature one; and
the early perfecting of the star accords with the general structure of
the coral. Another mode adapted to the peculiarities of the case is
exhibited by a polyparium resembling Ellis and Solander’s figure
of Astrea pleiades (tab. 53. fig. 7, 8), but which does not strictly
coincide with the descriptions of that species, or any other known to
the author of these memoranda. The interspaces however are more
or less concave, and traversed by outward extensions of the lamelle,
generally attenuated, and often curved; they occasionally present
also distinct, prominent papille, and the base is an apparently con-
tinuous solid plate. In this case, the bottom of the interval being
below the margin of the stars, no preparatory depression was requi-
site; and the first indication of an incipient cavity is an irregular
convergence of thin laminze, issuing from the edges of the old lamelle,
with the addition of others similarly slender; the whole uniting
in the middle of the area and presenting an imperfect star: a little
more advanced state has rays of greater regularity, a decidedly reti-
culated centre, and a projecting circular boundary ; or it exhibits a
completely formed, small visceral receptacle. In this coral, as in the
preceding, the lamellee occupy to a great extent the interior of the
cavity, and are therefore primarily developed ; no particular depres-
sion however 1s prepared, but a boundary is constructed ; the former

90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

not being necessary in this instance, nor the latter in Siderastrea
galaxea, which has interspaces uniformly on a level with the margin
of the abdominal hollows. A third example may be mentioned, as it
occurs in a coral the visceral receptacles of which have no central
structure during growth, and only rudimentary lamellee while in that
condition. The Heliopora cerulea of M. de Blainville possesses
considerable, uniformly level intervals formed of minute, continuous
tubes crossed by laminee. The additional cavities occur almost wholly
towards the upper extremity of the foliations or lobes, but they are
decidedly formed in the intermediate composition. The first indica-
tion is a shallow, irregular depression, due probably to a natural dis-
ruption of the tissues which had previously fabricated the tubull.
The little area is, apparently, soon modeled into a circular shape ;
and the slightly projecting perpendicular plates, which would have
formed the sides of minute tubes, had no breaking-up of mem-
branes occurred, become the first-formed narrow or rudimentary
lamelle. The network at the base of the hollow, arising from the
discontinued structure, continues open for a time, but is ultimately
covered by a solid layer, the first of the laminze, by which the area
is successively crossed. This is perhaps one of the simplest modes
by which the operation is effected among Anthozoa; all that is
wanted being a mere receptacle for the stomach-sac.

The statements given in a former paragraph respecting fissiparous
developments, as well as those just mentioned, prove that in each of
the two great processes, previously existing solid materials and animal
tissues are associated in the young cavity with others which are new,
and contribute towards its perfect formation. These combinations
also plainly show, that however the modes of effecting the results
may differ, they are but modifications of one plan. Distinctions
nevertheless exist deserving the most attentive consideration, when
an attempt is made to establish subordinate groups. In bipartitions,
the contents of only one mature cavity are concerned ; while in inter-
polations those of two or more contribute to the task: again, in fis-
siparous separations the additions are confined to the dividing struc-
ture, and are as necessary to the perfecting of the parent’s composition
as to that of the offspring; but m the other process old and new la-
mellze or plates are intermingled throughout the circuit of the young
area, and entirely confined to it. These are obvious differences, which
require no skill in discovering; and though the experienced physio-
logist can alone appreciate their importance, the study of them with
others of a similar nature cannot be too earnestly pursued by the
paleontologist.

The next coral to be considered was labelled “‘Cricopora gracilis,”
but without stating whether the specific term had been adopted or
was considered new*. ‘The Isle of Wight fossil, however, is clearly
not identifiable with the Cre. gracilis of M. Michelint+, nor with

* Consult Dr. Fitton’s Memoir, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. pp. 302, 327*, vol. iii.
Aug. 1847.
+ Iconographie Zoophytologique, p. 4. pl. 1. fig. 8.

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 91

the Ceriopora gracilis of Prof. Goldfuss*, regarded by the former
authority as the same coral. ‘The English fossil consists of slender,
forked branches, very numerous and closely aggregated in the spe-
cimen examined (fig. 16). On one side the branches present large
circular apertures in general irregularly distributed, but sometimes
arranged transversely (fig. 17) ; and now and then, in consequence of
the occurrence of interrupted vertical lines, they appear to be dis-
posed in perpendicular rows (fig. 18). Between these large openings
are others much smaller, less regular in form and more numerous,
constituting a kind of reticulation; the two series being easily di-
stinguished. On the opposite side of the branches the major aper-
tures are wholly wanting (fig. 19), care being taken to guard against
deceptive indentations produced by grains of sand; and the entire
surface offers to view a fine network similar to that between the vis-
ceral openings of the direct front. The central portion of the coral
is composed of tubes which have a considerable downward range
(fig. 20), the round apertures being their surface-terminations ; and
beneath the general reticulation, which forms an investing layer, mi-
nute tubuli range horizontally inwards (fig. 22).

Cricopora was proposed by M. de Blainville (Man. d’Actinol.
p- 420) as an amended designation for the Spzropora of Lamouroux
(Exp. Method. p. 47), the apertures of the visceral tubes being dis-
posed in circles around the branches, and not spirally : the genus has
moreover but one description of openings, independent of textile
pores}. The surface-characters alone therefore are sufficient to sepa-
rate the lower greensand fossil from Cricopora as established by M.
de Blainville ; and it is not necessary to notice species subsequently
added to it. The bifold nature of the apertures would suggest that
the extinct coral under examination might be an Heteropora; but
the visceral tubes terminating only on one side of the branches, is
opposed, in the present state of knowledge, to a generic identification.
The portions traversed by longitudinal ribs (fig. 18) resemble strongly
a fossil referred doubtfully by M. Roemer{ to Chrysaora of Lamou-
roux§. If rightly understood, figure 29d of the former authority ex-
hibits in the transverse section a quaquaversal radiation of abdominal
cavities ; and it is evidently a careful delineation. Should the infer-
ence be correct, it would be necessary to show, before a generic iden-
tity could be admitted between the two fossils, that in all other
essential particulars perfect agreement exists, and that the difference
is only specific. No doubt however can be entertained that the En-
glish extinct zoophyte is not a Chrysaora.

The only genus known to the author of this notice which de-
mands a detailed comparison with the lower greensand production, is

* Petrefacten, p. 35, pi. 10. fig. 11.

+ Consult Lamouroux, tab. 73. fig. 19-22, tab. 82. figs. 9,10, 11,12.

{ Verst. Norddeutsch. Kreidegebirges, p. 24, Chrys. pulchella, tab. 5. fig. 29, a,
b, ec, d.

§ Exposition Méthodique, p. 83. Consult pl. 81. fig. 6, 7, and fig. 8, 9, for generic
external characters.

92 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

the Hornera of M. Lamouroux*, and founded on a recent coral ob-
tained by Tilesius on the coast of Kamtchatka. In describing his
only species, Horn. frondiculata (loc. cit. p. 41), M. Lamouroux
refers doubtfully to the Mcllepora lichenoides of Linneeust, the
Millepora tubipora of Ellis and Solander{, and Lamarck’s Retepora
Srondiculata$ ; but M. Milne-Edwards, in his well-known memoir
on the genus||, seems to consider the whole three as true synonyms
of HZ. frondiculata. How far Tilesius’s coral is really identical with
that of Linneus, Ellis and Solander, and Lamarck, can be gleaned
only from Lamouroux’s figures; but if they are correct delineations,
that authority was apparently istified im marking his references as
doubtful. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that Tilesius obtained
his zoophyte on the coast of Kamtchatka, while that of Linnzeus, &c.
exists in the Mediterranean. MM. de Blainville and Milne-Edwards 4
having however adopted unqualifiedly the term Horn. frondiculata
for the Mediterranean Ascidian polype, it must be considered in this
notice as the type of the genus, and as such be the subject of com-
parison with the Isle of Wight fossil. The existing as well as the
extinct coral is strictly tubular; in each, those visceral cavities open
on only one side of the branch; each also has subordinate apertures
independent of textile pores over the whole surface; but they are far
less numerous in Zorn. frondiculata than in the fossil; and the ex-
terior of both is modified by age. Were these agreements considered
by themselves, they might be regarded as warranting a generic iden-
tity ; but a comparative analysis of each structure will show something
more than specific distinctions.

M. Milne-Edwards’s general figare of Hornera frondiculata (op.
cit. pl. 9. fig. 1) represents most completely the peculiarities of
growth, or strong main branches with numerous relatively slender
side-shoots, the latter presenting a uniformly very small breadth
even close to the base of the specimen: a similar character is visible
in Ellis and Solander’s figure (Nat. Hist. Zoophytes, pl. 26. fig. 1) ;
likewise in that of Esper (Pflanz. Mill. tab. 3), and Pallas (Elenchus,
Germ. Trans. tab. 12. fig. 42). They were still more prominent in
specimens presented to the author by the Rev. W. Hennah, and
which will be the chief source of the following remarks. The main
branches in the youngest state are slender, and formed almost wholly
of tubes; the large apertures project, particularly on the side of the

* Exposition Méthodique, p. 41. tab. 74. figs. 7,8,9. Inthe description of pl. 26.
fig. 1, the coral so delineated by Ellis and Solander is also called Hornera frondi-
culata and without a note of interrogation; nevertheless, no allusion is made in
the body of the work to that figure. See note } infra.

t+ Syst. Nat., Edit. x. tom. i. p. 791, 1758. Consult Esper’s Pflanzenthiere,
Millepora, tab. 3.

¢ Natural History of Zoophytes, p. 139. pl. 26. fig. 1, 1786, apud M. Milne-Ed-
wards’s Memoir on Hornera, infra note ||.

§ Anim. sans Vert. Edit. 1816, tom. ii. p. 182; Edit. 1836, ii. p. 277.

|| Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 2nd Series, Zool., tom. ix., 1838, or Re-
cherches sur les Polypes, Mém. sur les Crisies, p. 17 et seq.

§ De Blainville, Man. d’Actinol. p. 419; Milne-Edwards, op. cit., and 2nd Edit.
Lamarck, tome il. p. 277 and note.

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOCPHYTES. 93

stems, and between them are interlaced fibres with small pits or
foramina. The reverse side of the same portion is strongly though
irregularly ribbed, and there are considerable interspaces traversed
also by fibres, often disposed obliquely as respects the area, but ver-
tically with reference to the growth of the branch. The intervals
have likewise distinct pores. In the specimen immediately under
consideration the whole surface of the stems began to be modified
about three lines from the upper extremity by a fibrous thickening,
which gradually increased downwards, widening also the branches,
and filling up more or less completely the spaces between the pro-
jecting openings, and finally obliteratmmg, im very aged conditions,
the latter, rendering both surfaces nearly uniform in character. ‘The
lateral shoots and their offsets preserved, on the contrary, an equal
breadth from their point of divergence nearly to their extremity,
even in a case nine lines in Jength, and on whatever part of a speci-
men they were situated. These shoots were apparently the young
branches of M. Milne-Edwards*; but the long-continued, if not
permanent differences between them and the main stems, are not
apparently alluded to by him. The shoots with their offsets had a
very hispid appearance. M. Edwards says, that m young branches,
** Ja portion terminale des cellules est trés saillante, et P espéce inter-
médiaire rugueuse”’ (op. cit. p. 44, desc. fig. 1a). On coating one
with ink, and examining it under a Codrington lens, the intervals
were clearly traversed by fine ribs, sometimes parallel, but often con-
verged towards each other, forming a lozenge-shaped figure around
the apertures. These areas were indented or foraminated similarly
to those of the main stems, but no fibres were detected, nor decided
thickening, though the shoot was five lines in extent. The reverse
side was occupied by broad granulated ribs with fine intermediate
furrows}, but not a vestige of a fibrous structure was visible through-
out even the nine-lines shoot. The difference between a thickened
and non-thickened surface is well-expressed in M. Edwards’s figure
la (letters a and 5); but it is most conspicuous in specimens them-
selves, and in those portions where the shoot issues from the side of
an aged stem, not the least encroachment of the fibrous structure
being visible upon the former. It is of little importance in the pre-
sent inquiry whether the differences are permanent or not; it is suf-
ficient to point out their existence under certaim conditions. In the
lower greensand fossil no similar distinctions exist, all branches
being perfectly alike; and the thickening is not effected by longitu-
dinal fibres, but by local amorphous secretions. Respecting the
minor openings in main stems of Horn. frondiculata, fragments pur-
posely worn down showed that they were only foramina which
penetrated the general crust of the coral, and not distinct tubuli with
a surrounding open area. Lateral shoots prepared in the same man-
ner also proved that the surface minor epenings were pores in the
wall of the tubes. In the Isle of Wight fossil, however, the secondary
apertures on both sides of a branch have, within the body of the

* Op. cit. pp. 18, 19; also pl. 9. fig. 1a, with description of figure, p. 44.
+ Consult M. Milne-Edwards’s figure 1c, op. cit. pl. 9, and description, p. 44.

94 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 14,

coral, a distinct boundary often more or less encompassed by translu-
cent, brown calcareous spar; intimately a tubular structure, and an
occasional isolation from all other organic matter. Without extend-
ing the comparison, these differences are deemed sufficient to separate
the lower greensand fossil from Hornera; and as similar subordinate
tubuli have not been included m the characters of any established
genus, it is proposed to make the extinct zoophyte the type of a
new one, with the designation Siphodictyum, from cigwy, tubus, and
cixrvor, rete, in allusion to the horizontal tubuli terminating mm a net-
work on the surface. The specific name “gracile” is retamed for
the sake of identification with the previous determination.

SIPHODICTYUM, N. g.

Gen. char.—Tubular ; the tubes forming branches, and opening only
on one side of them; interspaces and all the reverse surface occu-
pied by a network of minor pores; exterior of branches progress-
ively altered by local secretions ; interior occupied by downward
prolongations of the visceral tubes, and traversed horizontally by
small subordinate tubuli, connected with the surface-reticulation ;
additional tubes developed between pre-existing.

SIPHODICTYUM GRACILE.
(Pr'V. figs: 16'to'23.)

Spec. char.—Branches cylindrical, slender, forked, ceespitosely ag-
gregated ; surface sometimes traversed vertically by discontinuous,
longitudinal ribs ; in aged conditions rugose ; openings of the vis-
ceral tubes circular, very distinct, margm sometimes slightly pro-
jecting ; order of distribution generally irregular, occasionally trans-
verse, where the longitudinal ribs occur, vertically lineal; minor
openings arranged in rows between the ribs, elsewhere retiformly.

The fine specimen submitted to examination by Dr. Fitton con-
sisted of innumerable slender branches, the upper extremities of
which presented a ceespitose area nearly 2 inches long and 11 wide.
On the side where the general character of the branches was shown,
considerable dislocations occurred; but in one mstance was a clear
succession of forked branches for 11 inch. Not the slightest means
were afforded for determining the nature of the original base, but
it probably resembled that of M. Roemer’s Chrysaora? pulchella
(op. cit. tab. 5. fig. 29c), or a solid disc, from which sprang single,
closely aggregated stems. The branches were simply and in general
uniformly forked (fig. 16); and the plane of separation was almost
invariably the same in successive bifurcations. The intervals between
the points of subdivision were very irregular, varying from 3ths of a
lne to 3limes. The differences in the dimensions of a branch due to
thickening were small, the breadth of the younger conditions being
about ths of a line, and that of the older half aline. Most frequently
no increase preceded a bifurcation; and sometimes no difference was
perceptible between the undivided branch and each of the shoots.

Notwithstanding the great extent of the specimen, a very young

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 99

state was not observed. Supposed early but mature conditions
(fig. 17) exhibited round, sometimes slightly raised tubular termi-
nations, which opened in the same plane with that of the general
surface ; and when arranged transversely, they in general constituted
well-marked ridges. The longitudinal ribs also scarcely projected
(fig. 18). The secondary apertures varied in form, likewise in size
and distinctness; and their margins were depressed or inclined in-
wards*. A presumed somewhat older state had a rougher surface
in consequence of increased boldness in the framework of the reticu-
lation ; while the tubular openmgs were depressed rather than raised,
and the transverse rows did not form ridges: in an apparently still
older fragment the rugosity of the exterior was much greater, the
major apertures were irregular in outline, and the minor diminished
in size; the network was also obliterated: lastly, m what was con-
sidered an aged condition the mouths of the tubes were often in-
distinct, and the secondary pores were reduced to punctures in rugose
projections. The changes on the reverse side agreed completely with
those just mentioned, so far as concerned the network.

Transverse sections (fig. 21) presented a tubular area, and an ex-
terior opake zone, in which could be detected occasionally the out-
ward range of the visceral tubes ; also horizontally-imtersected minute
tubuli, which in two cases apparently ranged from the surface-net-
work to an abdominal hollow. The internal vertical composition, so
far as respected the tubes, was tolerably shown in two translucent
slices (fig. 20). Those cavities, as before stated, had a considerable
extension, the inferior termination being generally in the axis of the
branch. Their area was invariably clouded by peripheral structures,
in which very minute bright specks could be detected ; and occasion-
ally a larger circle, believed to be one extremity of the slender, hori-
zontal tubuli just mentioned ; but not a trace was discovered of a
transverse lamina indicative of the digestive organs having changed
their position. Between the walls of adjacent tubes was very often a
fine line similar to that mentioned in the notice on Choristopetalum
impar ; but im some cases it was evidently an early condition of a
young cavity, as it gradually expanded upwards, and assumed the
characters of a mature state; while in others less clear, it appeared
to mark a structural separation between the walls, bemg more or less
continuous without any increase in width. The nature of the reti-
culated zone was ascertainable only in fragments purposely abraded
to different depths, and even then the detection of the characters
required care. A small portion of a branch slightly rubbed down
presented obliquely exposed visceral cavities, with minor opake circles
generally in contact, but sometimes with a faint indication of a sepa-
rating paler line, the circles clearly representing the secondary surface-
apertures. Another fragment (fig. 22), more deeply worn, exhibited
in the middle longitudinally exposed tubes, but at the sides and upper
extremity of the branch, where less had been removed, large ovals

* A Shanklin specimen, obligingly lent the author by Mr. Morris, afforded per-

fectly similar characters. For a notice of the existence of the coral at that locality,
consult Dr. Fitton’s Memoir, p. 318 op. cit.

96 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socirry. [June 14,

with small circles similar to those just mentioned, but occasionally
surrounded by a narrow translucent interspace resembling in colour
the spar which filled the cavities, and the minute area within the
circles. A third portion, laid open nearly to the centre, differed not
in character from translucent slices. A slightly-abraded reverse sur-
face of an Atherfield specimen, presented to the Geological Society
by Prof. Edward Forbes and Capt. Ibbetson, exhibited (fig. 23) ver-
tical rows of opake-white links with narrow, translucent, intermediate
Imes; and a little lower, where the surface had been more deeply
epee, thé links were not arranged lineally, and were detached from
each other by a very narrow pale band: Part of a thin slice displayed
also several detached circles, the inner areas and intervening spaces
agreeing in colour and amount of clearness. Again, a fragment pur-
posely worn down unequally, gave in the upper or least abraded por-
tion, irregularly distributed circles, either im contact or separated by
very fine pale lines ; while lower down a deeper wearing laid open first
circles of smaller dimensions with an increased interspace; and still
nearer the lower extremity, intersections of three tubes with gra-
dually narrowing intervals in which circles could just be detected.
From these observed characters, it is inferred that the meshes of the
exterior network were not mere pores in the outer layer of the coral,
but tubuli possessed of as distinct walls as the visceral tubes.

Additional cavities, so far as concerned the upward growth of the
coral, were developed chiefly in the middle of the branch, converging
to the very centre as they descended ; but occasionally a minute open-
ing surrounded by mature tubes was detectable near the outer or re-
ticulated zone.

As regards the position of Siphodictyum in a general classification,
little doubt can be entertained of the coral having been formed by an
ascidian polype. The simple abdominal cavities, uncrossed by trans-
verse laminze, were clearly adapted for the reception of digestive
organs, which did not change their position; and the length “of the
tubes is not greater than that requisite for complicated viscera with
rigid tentacula. Among the great groups comprising that class, the
nearest agreement is with the family Tubuliporidze of M. Milne Ed-
wards, and to which he has removed Hornera (op. cit.). Some of the
best-known genera however, as T'udulipora and Crisia, do not thicken
conspicuously, if at all, the exterior of their tubes; and the mode in
which the process is effected in Hornera differs, as already stated,
materially from that in Siphodictyum. In this respect the fossil
resembles the Escharidze, the additions beng purely local, and pro-
ducing external irregularities of surface; but the absence of all signs of
an operculum essentially distinguishes the extinct coral from Eschara
and allied genera, and associates it with those forming the Tubulipo-
ride*. It is therefore proposed to place Siphodictyum provisionally
in that family of ascidian zoophytes.

The fifth fossil had not apparently been named; but when first
examined, it was conjectured to be that which is alluded to in the

* Consult M. Milne-Edwards, op. cit., Mém. sur les Tubulipores, p. 5.

1848. ] LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 97

published list, No. 13. (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. iii. p. 302)
under the term Heteropora; and the mistake was not detected till
the describer was favoured, through Dr. Fitton, with the Atherfield
polyparia in the Museum of the Geological Society of London. In
that collection a branch of Choristopetalum impar was labelled ‘ Hete-
ropora. The specimen of the coral about to be considered, and
which forms a portion of Dr. Fitton’s private cabinet, was imbedded
in the same mass of sandstone as the fine example of Siphodictyum
gracile mentioned in the preceding notice.

The fossil consists of cylindrical, forked branches (fig. 24), occa-
sionally anastomosed ; the exterior (imperfectly preserved) has round
apertures (fig. 25) irregularly distributed over the whole surface, and
variable in character according to age, and, in the specimen examined,
to the state of preservation; the general surface is also modified by
external additions ; secondary or minor apertures are detectable occa-
sionally near the large openings: internally the coral is composed of
elongated simple tubes, more or less separated by an open interspace
or fissure (fig. 26). These characters must be regarded as very im-
perfect mdications of the fossil’s structure ; the surface of the speci-
men being so incrusted with matrix, that it was impossible to obtain
satisfactory evidence of external composition.

If the portions with slightly projecting tubular apertures were con-
sidered as presenting a mature, characteristic condition, the Atherfield
coral might be referred to the Pustulopora of M. de Blainville*,
especially as exhibited in P. madreporacea (Goldf. pl. 10. fig. 12)
and P. pustulosa (pl. 11. fig. 3), but in those fossils no open space
or line of separation between the visceral tubes is either delineated or
alluded to under any condition; nor are secondary openings or irre-
gular thickenings noticed or represented. M. de Blainville states
that the tubes or ‘‘cellules’’ are ‘‘ peu saillantes, pustuleuses ou ma-
melonnées”’ (op. cit. p. 418); but M. Milne-Edwards+ describes an
existing Mediterranean species, P. proboscidea (op. cit. pl. 12. fig. 2),
with projecting, free extremities “‘exactement comme chez les Tubu-
lipores” (op. cit. p. 27). The lower greensand fossil had not, it is
believed, at any time free, protruding, visceral tubes similar to those
represented by M. Edwards (Joc. cit.), with a simple, tubular extre-
mity in the most advanced stage, but in a mature state, a pustulous
aperture developed at that particular period of growth. The author of
this notice is indebted to the liberality of Prof. Edward Forbes for two
specimens of a Mediterranean coral agreeing perfectly with M. Ed-
wards’s figure, but differmg most materially from that found at
Atherfield. Two new extinct species, described and figured in the
memoir above-quoted (op. cit. pl. 11. fig. 4, pl. 12. fig. 1), agree in
general composition with P. proboscidea; and if the inquiry be ex-

* Man. d’Actinol. p. 418 : see Goldfuss’s delineations of the four species of Cerio-
pore, on which the genus is founded, Petref. pl. 10. fig. 12. fig. 8, and pl. 11.
fig. 3. fig. 1.

T Ann. des Sc. Nat., 2nd series, Zool., tome ix., Mem. sur les Crisies, &c., or
Recherches sur les Polypes, &c.

VOL. V.—PART I. H

98 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [June 14,

tended to the additions made by M. Michelin* and Herr Roemer, the
characters of the Isle of Wight zoophyte will not be apparent; but
should those structures be hereafter shown to exist, still as they do
not occur in the fossils on which the genus was founded, such species
would have to be removed from M. de Blainville’s Pustulopora. It
is not considered necessary to prolong the comparison to other deli-
neated corals which present a limited amount, not an aggregate of
agreements; and the compiler of these memoranda not being aware
of any established genus possessing a union of characters similar to
that already mentioned, and to be further noticed in the following
remarks, it is suggested that the Atherfield fossil may be designated
Chisma (xroper, fissura), m allusion to the intervals between the
tubes.

CHISMA, 0. g.

Gen. char.—Tubular, branched ; tubes simple, in contact, or sepa-
rated by an interspace of variable breadth ; apertures irregularly
distributed over the whole surface, not mere tubular terminations ;
exterior of branches formed of more or less exposed portions of
tubes, progressively modified by external additions.

CHISMA FURCILLATUM, 0. sp.
(PLATE V. fig. 24 to 28.)

Spec. char.—Branches cylindrical, forked, occasionally anastomosed :
plane of successive bifurcations at right angles ; tubes variable in
form, slightly divergent, seldom bent suddenly outwards ; aperture
at distal extremity of exposed portion of the tubes ; in mature and
advanced states pustulose; breadth of tube uniformly small m the
middle portion of the branch, considerable at the sides ; external
thickening of branches rugose.

The specimen submitted to examination occupied an area about
one inch and a half square, throughout which the branches were
loosely distributed, but possibly at about their original relative di-
stance. There was not the slightest indication of a base or mode of
attachment. The diameter of the’stems was nearly a line; and no
marked difference in dimension was noticed between the undivided
portion and the two shoots, near the point of separation. The bi-
furcations occurred at irregular distances, and the mode of branching
had not been strictly uniform ; ; but there was a marked tendency to
divide in alternate planes. Wheréver the branches had come in
contact, a perfect unicn had taken place.

A fragment (fig. 25) which was believed to represent in part an
unthickened, though not perfectly preserved exterior, displayed in the
upper portion, a surface composed of a variable amount of exposed

* Teonog. Zoophyt. p. 210 to 212, pl. 53. figs. 2 to 6.
t Versteinerungen des Norddeutschen Kreidegeb., pp. 21, 22. pl. 5. fig. 23, 24.

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES, 99

tubes, the boundary of which was defined by a distinct line, arched
at the distal extremity, and straight or curved at the sides according
to the relative position of the adjacent cavities. The visible surface
was nearly flat or very slightly concave, and though not completely
preserved, was yet clearly composed of the original coral, being pene-
trated by minute pores similar to those in the side of vertically inter-
sected tubes: one limited area also presented between and around the
apertures a nearly smooth surface with very faint traces of boundary-
walls. The opening situated at the very distal extremity of the tube,
but in the same plane with the surface of the branch, varied in form
from circular to transversely oval, occupying the whole breadth of
the interior of the cavity; and the margin was in general slightly
raised. In this part of the specimen, the space between the interior
of two adjacent visceral hollows was very narrow, with scarcely a
trace of the walls being divided medially ; but lower down, where
the interval was greater and the abrasion apparently deeper, a distinct
partition-line was occasionally visible, especially around the arched end
of the tube. A seemingly thickened exterior exhibited an irregular
surface with projecting aperturcs, and no signs of boundary-lines
either above the mouths or down the sides of the cavities, the occa-
sional lacunz being evidently partial abrasions. No satisfactory
proofs of a change in the openings were visible ; but in another branch
a small foramen appeared in the middle of mammillated casts, and
indicated an advanced stage, possibly a precursory one to a total fill-
ing up.

“The characters of the cavities within the branches was well shown
in nearly vertical translucent slices (fig. 26) and polished sections
(fig. 27). The difference between the breadth of the tubes imme-
diately adjacent to the exterior, and those in the middle area of the
branch was very great, where the intersection passed through the
centre (fig. 26) ; but that the latter were mere downward attenuations
of the former, no doubt could be entertained, as broad cavities were
traced into narrow. Nevertheless the dimensions of the tubes were
not always strictly uniform in equivalent positions; circumstances
which affected the plan of growth evidently influenced the breadth
also. The total range of the cavities could not be clearly determined,
but it was manifestly considerable, exceeding many times the widest
portion ; not a trace however of a transverse lamina was detected.
The form was cylindrical where an interspace existed (figs. 27, 28) ;
but when the tubes were nearly or quite m contact, the outline was
more or less modified by mutual interference. In the notice on ex-
ternal structures, the surface is stated to consist of exposed portions
of visceral hollows with a flat or slightly concave outline, the aper-
ture being situated at the distal extremity. The equivalent part in
translucent slices (fig. 26) almost invariably consisted of a curved or
nearly straight, thin, opake layer, which did not range conformably
with the side of the tube, but crossed obliquely the broad extremity,
constituting a special structure for closing at a particular period the
ample tubular area. The apertures were not always apparent, yet, im
some cases, at the upper extremity of the oblique layer was a marked

H 2

100 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SociETy. [June 14,

prominence, agreeing in position and form with the openings on the
surface of the branches ; and it occupied only a limited portion of
the oblique covering; or its depth was very much less than the dia-
meter of the cavity. These characters prove, to the extent of the
fragments examined, that the apertures were not simple tubular ex-
tremities, like those in Siphodictyum gracile, Tubulipora, &c., but a
distinct structure. In the genus Hucratia* of Lamouroux, the vis-
ceral cell swells out from a very narrow base (Lamarck’s 2nd Ed.
loc. cit.), and the ample interior is closed obliquely in a manner si-
milar to that stated above, as shown in M. Milne-Edwards’s figure
(op. cit. pl. 8. fig. 1); but Prof. J. Reid+ has explained that the
covering is a membrane, and that it falls off when the polype is dead ;
and M. Edwards had previously delineated the operculum by which
the small aperture is closed when the tentacula are drawn in (Joe.
cit.). In Chisma furcillatum the oblique layer differed not in com-
position from the sides of the tubes, and no signs of an operculum
were noticed. The walls of the cavities were distinctly foraminated,
presenting sometimes even a sieve-like texture ; and they appeared to
vary in thickness, in consequence of the mtersection includig a por-
tion of the curvature of the tube (fig. 27) ; but the actual dimension
was small. The character of the interval between adjacent walls de-
pended seemingly on the position of the cavities, and on circumstances
which permitted a certain amount of divergence. Sometimes scarcely
a vestige of an interspace was detectable in the middle area of a
branch (fig. 26); while in other sections less centrally exposed, a
small divisional line was occasionally quite distinct ; and in a third case
(fig. 27) a fissure prevailed nearly throughout, acquiring in one part
great prominence of character. The principal specimen afforded in-
stances of each condition. Oblique or transverse slices exhibited also a
variable amount of interval. In general the minor fissures were more
or less clouded, and at times appeared to be crossed by a bar or fila-
ment; but in the wide spaces (fig. 27) the evidence was in favour
of aclear chasm, allowance being made for the interference of tubular
walls situated behind the plane of section. A transverse slice (fig. 28),
with considerably separated cavities, showed no regular intermediate
structure, but the cloudiness in the fissure was generally greater than
that within the tube and dissimilar in character. The indications of
cross-bars were likewise few and unsatisfactory, as proofs of com-
position, when examined with a sufficient power. This want of
connecting structures under certain circumstances suggests the in-
ference, that the walls of adjacent cavities were not primarily united,
or that there was no interblending of the secreting membranes.
Roughly fractured branches afforded sometimes a crenulated surface

* Lamouroux, Expos. Méthodique, p. 8, pl. 65. fig. 10 (Hue. chelata) : consult
also Milne-Edwards, 2nd Edit. Lamarck, tom. ii. p. 188 note, and Ann. des Se.
Nat. 2nd Series, Zool. tome ix. pl. 8. fig. 1. p. 11, Des Crisidies, or Recherches sur
les Polypes, Mém. sur les Crisies, &c.

t+ Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xvi. p. 392 (Crisia chelata), pl. 12. fig. 10,
1845. Consult also Dr. Johnston’s Brit. Zoophytes, 2nd. Edit. p. 288-290, 1846-
1847.

1848. | LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOUPHYTES. 101

composed of salient and re-entering angles, proving considerable
lateral interference ; yet it was difficult to determine how far the
severed portions gave freely parted walls. The apparently outer
sides of these compressed hollows were punctured in the manner
mentioned in noticing the composition of the tubes; but if rightly
understood, the best exhibited surfaces were not smooth, although
they displayed no rough broken edges or points indicative of a frac-
tured intermediate structure. The nearly perfect exteriors, it must
be remembered, afforded very faint or no signs of a dividing line;
and the supposed thickened area had a continuous layer around and
between, intimating a complete union in that state. These imper-
fectly observed characters are nevertheless believed to be in nowise op-
posed to the conclusion of the adjacent walls having been unconnected
when first developed. The foramina in their sides were necessarily
designed for a specific purpose ; and possibly they afforded a passage
to vessels that nourished the animal substance which occupied the
narrowest as well as the broadest interspaces ; and as this portion of
the polype was unprovided with the means for forming a definite
structure, calcareous matter was probably deposited in a pulverulent
state, fillmg partially or wholly the finer intervals, and clouding
more or less the wider, according to the relative age or position of
the examined fragment. Whatever may have been the real nature
of these spaces, or the functions of the animal matter, it is perfectly
clear the polype-tissues which constructed the whole body of the
coral must have had a far simpler organization than those that de-
veloped the solid fabric of Siphodictyum gracile. Better examples
of the impropriety of limiting the term polypus to the viscera and
the appendages around the mouth could not be advanced. In both
the fossil genera, the digestive apparatus and the tentacula could not,
reasoning from what is known of existing ascidian zoophytes, have
differed greatly ; whereas the animal matter which occupied the in-
terspaces, and in one case produced a complicated structure, but in
the other has left scarcely a trace of a regular composition, could
have possessed little organic sameness. Limit the term polypus to
the portions that filled the tubes, and the animals might be consi-
dered identical ; extend it to the whole of the soft parts, and the
most marked differences become apparent.

Additional cavities sprang chiefly from the direct centre, but a
minute circle or angular area could be detected occasionally nearer
the circumference, and m some cases they were arranged on each
side of a faimt curved line which traversed more or less medially
cross sections. Though no direct evidence was obtained, yet these
lines were considered as precursors of a bifurcation. They were
clearly not the effects of anastomosis.

The foregoing statements, it is conceived, justify the mference that
the extinct coral was formed by an ascidian polype ; and that it
should be placed provisionally among the. Tubuliporide.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socreTy. [June 14

Diasrorora, Lamouroux and Milne-Edwards.

A. specimen belonging to an affixed species of this genus was no-
ticed on a fragment of Choristopetalum impar, but its state of pre-
servation did not permit the characters to be ascertained.

Fig. 1:

Summary of Species.

AMORPHOZOA.
1. Conis contortuplicata.

ANTHOZOA.

2, Choristopetalum impar.
3. Cyathophora? elegans.

BRrRYOZOA.

4. Siphodictyum gracile.
5. Chisma furcillatum.
6. Diastopora ——.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES IV. AND V.

PuatE IV.
Conis contortuplicata. External appearance, nat. size.

. Portion of surface, enlarged, to show the characters of the lacunz and

pores.

. Internal structure, enlarged.
. Another section in which the fibrous structure is shown.
. Choristopetalum impar. General mode of branching, nat. size. 5*. Portion

enlarged to give the two sets of openings.

. Vertical section, mag. 5 diameters. 6*. Outline from a direct centre to ex-

hibit the transverse laminz in the tubes, and traces of concentric layers.

. The portion immediately above the transverse fracture displays the surface

of the lower lamina of a concentric layer, mag. 5 diam.

. Surface of the upper lamina or counterpart of fig. 7, mag. 5 diam.
. The central boss, gives a transversely exposed concentric lower lamina,

mag. 5 diam.

. Transverse section, mag. 5 diam.
. Perfect surface, enlarged.
. Cyathophora? elegans, nat. size. General appearance. 12*. Portion, mag.

4 diam.

. Nearly vertical section. Fig. 13 to 15 mag. 4 diam.
. Portion of a perfectly preserved exterior, figures 12, 12* giving only casts.
.). Portion of a specimen killed during development.

Quart. Geol. Tourn. Vol. V. Ply.

Sa *

ant

2 es
2.4

NTE |
mt fy

WTA ge AN hen m
rn, ent " i aps:
a, v, Tu Ly

Me ally wa
Now aca ai

ip Oe > PINGS ia

Ne ares wg reas ue
NSS mn: a si moh CAN

aft I (fans “myn ytd A *) Re

ai / Agee KAY

\\
eis , As fr 4 wy
. eye EE ws ra ate \
" Ke ary \\ e Pe ¥ Co
- are : “é TL PS ON tos Werk
S fee WL Ye Q\\ ? & es . Y NA
INS we Osage wc S a xe \ Nat \ i os Ra
SSS Ate Ye NAS wi ae
~ ad x) \

AN
Sy pw De A
fe. mS

oe. in. %
5 ft a

SLDe C. Sowerby. fecrt:

a dh uerer °

4
%

Quart. Geol. Journ. Vol.V. Pl.V

Chisma furcillatum.

SDe C. Sowerby. fectt

; mn" ee =
A Paes By FP See eA
OTS | Sicko ea aia

Hate

Lie 5

a af * 449 Ai u
Sid. 3h way. a,

SARE CRD RIC ee 2 a

: tee et! ire i EK Shy

Mi hy VT ARI A
Ln ‘ i

oo err

yeu

1848. ]

Fig. 16.

r7-
. Front of another branch, traversed by fine longitudinal lines.
. Reverse surface.

. Vertical section through the centre.

. Transverse section.

. Slightly worn down front.

. Slightly worn down reverse side.

. Chisma furcillatum. General plan of branching, nat. size.

. Nearly perfect exterior, mag. 7 diam.

28,

LONSDALE ON FOSSIL ZOOPHYTES. 103

PLATE V.

Siphodictyum graeile. General plan of growth, nat. size.
Front of a branch. Fig. 17 to 23 mag. 7 diam.

Vertical section. The position of the mouth to the tube is indicated in
Some cases, as near x, by a small projection; and the interval between
the tubes by the little space immediately above the projection: mag. 7
diam.

. A section nearer the original surface, mag. 4 diam.: the character of the

intervals between the tubes is shown in the portion greatly enlarged.
Transyerse section, mag. 7 diam.

104

DONATIONS
TO THE

LIBRARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

July 1st to October 31st, 1848.

I. TRANSACTIONS AND JOURNALS.
Presented by the respective Societies and Editors.

AGRICULTURAL Society (Royal), Journal. Vol. ix. part 1.

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Proceedings. Vol. i.
pp- 297-346.

Philosophical Scciety, Proceedings. Vol. v. No. 40.

Annales des Mines. Quatri¢me Série, Tome 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9, 10, 11, 12 (liv. 4), 20 (in all 37 Parts).

Asiatic Society (Royal), Journal of the Bombay Branch. No. 11,
1847.

Athenzeum Journal, July to November.

Belgique, Académie Royale de. Mémoires, tomes xxi. et xxti.—
Mémoires Couronnés et Mémoires des Savants Etrangers,
tome xxii.—Bulletins, tome xiv. partie 2, et tome xv. partie 1.—
Annuaire, 1848.

Berlin Academy, Abhandlungen for 1846.

, Bericht, July to December 1847 and January to June
1848.

Dublin Geological Society Journal, vol. ii. part 4. Nos. 2 and 3.
Chemical Society, Quarterly Journal of. Vol.i. Nos. 2 and 3.

France, Société Géologique de, Mémoires. Deux. Scrie, tome iv.
feuilles 53-62, and tome v. feuilles 4-8.

Comptes Rendus de ’ Académie. Nos. 1-25. Tome xxvi. Prem. Sem.
and Index and Contents to Tome xxv.

Geographical Society (Royal), Journal of the. Vol. xvi. part 1.

DONATIONS. 105

Indian Archipelago, Journal of the. Vol. 11. Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Irish Academy (Royal), Transactions. Vol. xxi. part 2.

sats Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de. No. 2.
1847.

New York, Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of. Vol. iv.
Nos. 10 and 11.

Philadelphia, Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of. Vol. i.
part 1.

Philosophical Magazine. From R. Taylor, Esq., F.G.S.

Tyneside Naturalists’ Field Club, Transactions. Vol. i. part 3.

Vaudoise, Bulletin des Séances de la Société des Sciences Naturelles de.
Nos. 16, 17 & 18.

Wien, Berichte tiber die Mittheilungen von Freunden der Naturwis-
senschaften in. 3 band. Nos. 1-6, 1847. From Herr W.
Haidinger.

Il. GEOLOGICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS.
Names in italics presented by Authors.

Bloede, M. Tabelle iiber die in den Offentlichen Museen zu St. Pe-
tersburg befindlichen Aerolithen.

Davidson, M. M. K. et Bouchard Chantereaux. Note sur le Magas
pumilus.

De Koninck, LZ. Recherches sur les Animaux Fossiles. Part 1.

D’ Orbigny, A. Paléontologie Francaise, Terrains Crétacés, livrai-
sons 131, 132, 133, 134, 135 & 136. Terrains Jurassiques,
liv. 48, 49 & 50.

Dumont, A. Mémoire sur les Terrains Ardennais et Rhénan de
Y Ardenne, du Rhin, du Brabant et du Condros.

Fischer de Waldheim, G. Notice sur quelques Sauriens Fossiles
du Gouvernement de Moscou.

Gibbes, R. W., M.D. Monograph of the Fossil Squalidee of the
United States.

Geological Survey of Great Britain, Memoirs of, and of the Museum
of Practical Geology m London. Vol. i. parts 1 & 2. Pre-
sented by Sir H. T. De la Beche, from the Commission of Woods
and Forests.

Helmersen, G. v. Herrn von Middendorffs geognostische Beobach-
tungen auf seiner Reise durch Siberien, bearbeitet von.

Aulosteges variabilis, ein neuer Brachiopode mit artiku-
lirtem Schlosse, aus dem Zechstein Russlands.

Jobert, A.C. G. Ideas or Outlines of a New System of Philosophy.

106 DONATIONS.

King, Capt. P., R.N. On the Specific Gravity of Sea-water in the

North and South Atlantic Oceans.
Selections from a Meteorological Journal kept during

the Survey of the Southern Coasts of South America.

King, Wm. Catalogue of the Organic Remains of the Permien Rocks
of Northumberland and Durham.

Lubbock, Sir J. W., Bart. On the Theory of the Moon, &c.

Mantell, G. A., Esq., LL.D. On the Structure of the Maxillary
and Dental Organs of the Iguanodon.

———. Observations on Belemnites, &c., discovered by Mr. R.
N. Mantell.

Meteorolcgical Observations made at Madras in 1841, 1842, 1843,
1844 and 1845. Presented by the Hon. East India Company.

Meteorological Observations made at the Meteorological Bungalow
on Dodabetta in 1847-48. Presented by the Hon. East India
Company.

Nyst, H. P. Tableau Synoptique et Synonymigque des especés vi-
vantes et fossiles de la Famille des Arcacées. Part 1.

Quetelet, 4. Sur le Climat de la Belgique. Deux. part. .

Reeve, Lovell. Elements of Conchology. Part 9.

Sismonda, Hugenio, M.D. Synopsis Methodica Animalium Inverte-
bratorum Pedemontii Fossilium.

Strickland, H. E. A General Catalogue of all Books, Tracts and

Memoirs on Zoology and Geology. By Prof. L. Agassiz; cor-
rected and edited by. Presented by the Ray Society.

THE

QUARTERLY JOURNAL

THE GHOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

NOVEMBER 1, 1848.

Douglas Galton, Esq., Lieut. R.E., was elected a Fellow of the
Society.

The following communications were read :—

—

. On the supposed impression in Shale of the soft parts of an Or-
THOCERAS. By James Hatt, F.M.GS., State Geologist of New
York. (Communicated by Sir Roderick I. Murchison, to whom
the notice was sent in a letter dated Feb. 8, 1848, and whose ab-
sence from England prevented its being read last session.)

Havine read, in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for
August 1847, a letter from J. G. Anthony of Cincinnati, Ohio, to
C. Lyell, Esq., V.P.G.S. London, “on an impression of the soft
parts of an Orthoceras,” it occurred to me that the accompanying
remarks and illustrations might not be uninteresting to the Society,
and at the same time, perhaps, help towards a rational opinion rela-
tive to such bodies as are there described.

It has long been a favourite theory with some naturalists that the
fossil Orthocerata are internal shells, of which the external soft parts
have perished ; but no person, I believe, until the present time, has

VOL. V.—PART I. I

108 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Noyv. 1,

claimed to have discovered remains of these fleshy or muscular parts
of the animal. The position in which the body described was dis-
covered, and the condition of the other fossils in the same bed, show
the existence of circumstances peculiarly favourable to the preserva-
tion of the more delicate solid portions of all the then existing species
of that immediate neighbourhood. But we have still a right to ask
for more evidence as to the nature of these soft parts, and the manner
of their connexion with the shell. It appears natural to suppose that
the external soft parts of the animal, if any such existed, would be
connected with that portion of the internal animal occupying the
large outer chamber of the shell. In this example, judging from the
figure, and from my recollection of the specimen, the fossilized ‘‘ soft
parts’’ are found enveloping the smaller extremity of the shell, while
the outer chamber and larger extremity is broken off. This condi-
tion of the enveloping soft body seems to me an objection to such an
explanation, even admitting that the “soft parts’ could be petrified
under the circumstances. This objection however may not be con-
clusive, and I would only suggest it for consideration before noticing
other facts.

Bodies similar to that described by Mr. Anthony have been known
to me in the shales of New York for ten years, but I have always
regarded them as concretionary, though on their first discovery they
were supposed by several naturalists to be the remains of the external
fleshy body of the Orthoceras. The peculiar striated surface of Mr.
Anthony’s specimen corresponds with all those seen in New York,
and the bilobate form is likewise the ordinary one. This character
however appears to be due to previous compression, for the shell is
usually flattened and broken along a central depressed line.

It is scarcely probable that such an opinion would be advanced by
any one unless the mind had been pre-occupied by the belief that the
Orthocerata were composed of an internal chambered shell, and an
external soft body enveloping that shell. This prejudice is therefore
strongly sustained by such a discovery, should it be proved that
bodies of the kind described are found only in connection with shells
of the Orthoceras ; but this is far from being true.

To commence with the lower strata—I have found both the bivalve
acephala and the spiral univalves with a similar sac-like attachment
of what is here regarded as the “‘soft parts” of the animal, but
which I prefer to regard as a shaly accretion with a striated surface*.

* Concretionary action takes place in all our shaly deposits in which animal mat-
ter exists, particularly if iron be present, to form particles or nodules, or even
diffused particles of iron pyrites which aid in producing this action. Vegetable
matter is sometimes a nucleus for such aggregation.. Often there is no visible
nucleus, and we cannot readily determine the first cause of the action. When
the nucleus is organic, the concretionary masses or enclosing sacs usually assume
a bilobate or bilateral form, in other cases they are of various and irregular forms.
The surface of these bodies is almost always striated, and where there is only a
thin coating of shaly matter around the organic body, or a harder inorganie cal-
careous nodule, it appears not unlike the effect produced by smearing some hard
body with adhesive clay, and then removing as much as possible by hard pressure
and direct motion of the palm of the hand. These surfaces have often the pecu-

1848.] HALL ON ORTHOCERAS. 109

These for the most part I have destroyed to procure the enclosed
Fig. 1, fossil, and have no good representatives from this period.
In the Hamilton group such appearances are quite
common, and excite little attention. The accompanying
figure (fig. 1) represents a Chemnitzia (Loxonema) with a
concretion or sac on either side, which appears as if it
may once have been a soft or pulpy mass. In another
‘} specimen the shell is nearly covered by this sac, which
still preserves its proportions, corresponding to the form
t of the shell.

In this case there could have been no external animal or soft body
to become fossilized ; and had the entire soft part of the animal been
protruded from the shell, it would not have been half so large as the
attached concretion or sac, nor would it have assumed this position.
It is evident nevertheless that the form and size of the shell, or of
the animal within it, has determined the form and proportions of the
adhering concretionary mass; and if it could so act in this instance,
why may it not have done the same in the case of the Orthoceras ?
I am unwilling, at least, to admit the existence of such a preservation
of the “‘soft parts”? of a Cephalopod, while we have an example so
similar among the Gasteropods. I regret that I have no other spe-
cimens at hand to show that these are far from being solitary ex-
amples.

Among numerous specimens of Orthocerata, I select the accompa-
nying figures 3 and 4, which present some analogy with the figure
of Mr. Anthony~*.

liar appearance of the “ slickensides,’ except that the strie are finer. Such ac-
tion takes place almost universally in our black carbonaceous shales of all ages in
the palzozoic period ; not only appearing in such concretionary masses enclosing
fossils of all classes, and in distinct concretions, but also marking the plane shaly
or slaty cleavages where there is no evidence of metamorphic action, and where the
strata are in nearly a horizontal position. In all these cases iron pyrites, or some
action dependent on its presence or production, seems to perform an important
part, even to the formation of pseudo-organic forms.

* [As these figures by Mr. Hall closely resemble that given in a former number
of the Journal, from Mr. Anthony’s specimen, and here repeated, fig. 2, it has not
seemed necessary to engrave them. Mr. Hall also sent a drawing of the second
specimen of Chemnitzia mentioned above, which has likewise been omitted.—Ep.
Quart. Geol. Journ. |

i rity. | }
it Drs Ha

110 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [Noy. 1,

Fig. 3 is from a specimen of the smaller extremity of an Orthoce-
ras which has been crushed, and broken along the centre, and where
subsequent action has caused a slight accumulation of shaly matter
upon the shell, showing the incipient stage of these sac-like concre-
tions. The surface is striated after the peculiar manner of these con-
cretions, and a few of the septa are shown in the middle of the lower
part of the figure.

Fig. 4 is from a specimen where the original form of the shell of
the Orthoceras is lost, and the accumulation of the surrounding ma-
terial has assumed the aspect of a fleshy sac surrounding the tube as
the external fleshy body of the Orthoceras is supposed to envelope
the internal shell.

These peculiar results of concretionary action are seen in the
greatest perfection in the soft, fine shales which are formed from a
sediment of impalpable mud, which must have been deposited in the
most quiet waters, as evidenced both from its character and from the
perfect preservation of almost all the imbedded fossils. The perfect
preservation of the fossils in such localities is used as an argument
to convince us that these soft parts may be preserved ; but we find
similar fossils equally well preserved im calcareous deposits, while
there is never any evidence of the existence of the softer parts.
Again, in these examples the shell is often partially or entirely de-
stroyed by the action of acids, apparently resulting from the decom-
position of iron pyrites, leaving only a cast of the interior. In the
calcareous deposits of the Trenton limestone, the Orthocerata pre-
serve their delicate shell in great perfection; and yet among the
multitudes thus preserved, we find no appearance of the preservation
of the softer parts of the animal.

Mr. Anthony, in a letter of January 1848, called my attention to
the paper cited above, and suggests that this discovery, which seems
so well sustained, both by evidence and high opinion, conflicts with
the views I have expressed in my ‘ Report on the Paleontology of
New York,’ vol.i. I have therefore briefly examined the facts in
relation to this specimen, and the conclusions drawn therefrom ; and
I must leave it to naturalists to decide how far these conclusions can
be sustained, or whether they are in any degree impaired by the ac-
companying facts and illustrations. |

With regard to the opinions on the Orthocerata advanced in the
work just cited, | am far from being anxious to sustain them at the
expense of truth, or by the concealment or abridgement of any fact
connected with the subject. I have there expressed, however imper-
fectly, the results of my observations ; and I have even hesitated to
insist upon conclusions which the facts seemed to warrant. While
preparing that work, I examined all the authorities on this subject
within my reach. I found little to assist me in regard to the peculiar
forms and arrangement of parts of those species peculiar to our Lower
Silurian rocks, and was forced therefore to depend on my own inves-
tigations. I have proposed a generic name (Hndoceras), indicating
a peculiarity in the mode of development and growth, simply ; while
I believe the facts would justify a still wider separation than that of

ae”: CCL mhmh Oe, er

1848. | SHARPE ON SLATY CLEAVAGE. 11]

generic distinction. The specimens indeed reveal to us, in the
clearest manner, a feature in the physiology,—a mode of growth and
reproduction, which separates them widely from all the modern ce-
phalopods ; or even from the ancient forms having the usual siphun-
cular and septate arrangement of recent species*. If the characters
there given can be reconciled with the theory of a large external soft
animal, enclosing the shell, the question may remain in its present
undecided state; bearing on one side the array of facts, and on the
other the theoretical views of naturalists, deduced from those modern
cephalopods possessing few characters in common with these ancient
forms.

2. On Slaty Cleavage (second communication). By Danrext SHARPE,

Esq., F.G.S.

In a paper read to the Geological Society on the 2nd of December
1846, on the cleavage of slate rocks+, I endeavoured to work out
certain general laws relative to the compression which such rocks had
undergone, to the position of the planes of cleavage, and to the con-
nection between their direction and the elevation of the beds. The
conclusions were founded upon observations chiefly made in North
Wales, Devonshire and Cornwall: I have since visited parts of West-
moreland and Cumberland, with the view of enlarging the field of
observation, and the result is contamed in the following remarks,
which are thrown into the order adopted in the former paper.

Compression of slate-rocks in a direction perpendicular to the
planes of cleavage.—In the former paper, p. 87, I stated that in all
the slaty fossiliferous rocks examined, the distortion of the fossils
proved that the mass of the rocks had undergone considerable com-
pression in a direction everywhere perpendicular to the planes of
cleavage, and some expansion in the direction of the dip of the
cleavage; but that there was no reason to suppose that the rocks
had suffered any change of volume in the direction of the strike of
the cleavage. And it was inferred that these changes must be gene-
ral in all slaty rocks, although it might not be easy to find proofs
that they had occurred, where organic remains were absent.

There is however more evidence of compression to be found among
the beds of unfossiliferous slate than might have been expected ;
and the examination of their mechanical structure affords quite as
strong proofs of pressure as those derived from the distortion of the
organic remains.

In the neighbourhood of the roofing-slates there are frequently
found beds of a brecciated structure which cleave readily, but from
their irregular composition are liable to break. Such beds are

* The modern Cephalopod, Nautilus Pompilius, the anatomy of which is so well
known from the labours of Prof. Owen, affords little or no assistance in enabling
us to form conclusions as to the physiology and habits of animals like those in-
habiting the shells of Endoceras. .

+ Journal of the Geological Society, vol. ii. p. 74.

EF2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Nov. I,

largely exposed in the upper part of the quarries of green slate at
Patterdale, and in the Langdale quarries and many other places
in Westmoreland and Cumberland. In all these slaty breccias, the
included masses are flatter between the planes of cleavage than in
any other direction. Their irregular forms prove them to have been
imbedded pebbles or fragments, and cannot be explained by reference
to crystallization: indeed they have rarely any crystalline character,
but consist of slate, differing more or less in grain, colour and hard-
ness from the matrix in which they are imbedded. In the localities
mentioned, the bedding is most distinctly marked, and we can judge
with certainty of the position of the fragments with reference to it:
if they had been originally flat pieces of slate accidentally deposited,
we should find them lying on their flat sides in the bed, but this is
not the case ; their flattest sides are always parallel to the cleavage-
planes, and consequently where the cleavage cuts the bedding at a
high angle, as is the case in all the Langdale quarries, and in some
of those at Patterdale, these thin masses appear to be standing up-
right in the bed on their edges; a position which they never could
have reached if their forms had been originally those we now find.
We can only explain the circumstances by supposing that these
masses were flattened when the rock was subjected to a pressure
which acted in a direction perpendicular to the planes of cleavage.

When we examine the outline of these imbedded masses, as it is
seen on the face of a sheet of slate, we usually find them to be rather
longer down the dip of the cleavage than across it or along its strike :
this confirms the opinion that the rocks have expanded in the direc-
tion of the dip of the cleavage.

As we do not know the original forms of the imbedded fragments,
we can only guess at the amount of compression they have under-
gone ; but we may be certain that it has been very considerable, for
in many localities their thickness between the cleavage-planes is
seldom equal to half their diameter as seen on the planes of cleavage.

To illustrate the forms of the fragments imbedded in the brecciated
slates, I have added two sketches of a piece of slate from the Patter-
dale quarry.

Fig. 1 is taken from the surface of the plane of cleavage showing
the largest and flattest side of all the fragments, which are longest in
the direction of the dip of the cleavage y y.’ Fig. 2 shows the side
of the same sheet of slate with all the fragments flattened between
the planes of cleavage. The lines aa represent the planes of bed-
ding, with a considerable dip.

Between the well-marked slates and the great bands of porphyritic
rocks which traverse the ‘green slate’’ district of the Lakes, there
are extensive masses of metamorphic rocks more or less crystalline,
which appear to have been sedimentary deposits altered by the neigh-
bouring igneous action. In these rocks the cleavage is usually well-
marked, and the bedding can frequently be distinctly traced. But
the nearer we approach the axis of igneous action, the more obscure
do we find the bedding, till it is gradually lost ; the cleavage then
becomes more faint, and we soon reach a mass of crystalline rock

1848. | SHARPE ON SLATY CLEAVAGE. 113

without either bedding or cleavage. Many of these metamorphic slates
appear to have been originally of a brecciated structure, and contain
a confused mixture of crystals with what appear to be fragments of

Fig. 1.

i F

foreign origin. In slaty rocks of this description all the enclosed
portions which can be supposed to have had a mechanical origin are
flattened between the planes of cleavage, but nothing of the sort can
be observed of the crystals, which are scattered through the mass
without any reference to the cleavage-planes either in their form or
position.

In good roofing-slates, which are distinguished by the fineness and
uniformity of their grain, it is difficult to observe the forms of the
parts of which they are composed: yet even in these, with the assist-
ance of a lens, we can see that the constituent particles are flattest
between the cleavage-planes, and longest along the dip of the cleavage.
Thus, under whatever circumstances we are able to observe the forms
of the component parts of slate, or of the foreign bodies contained in
it, (whether these are pebbles, fragments of other rocks, or organic
remains,) we find evidence that the mass has been compressed by a
force which has acted in a direction perpendicular to the planes of
cleavage.

The distinctive character of slate appears to be that it is composed
of particles of a form more or less amygdaloidal, arranged in a similar

114 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Noy. l,

direction. Its tendency to split with different degrees of resistance
in different directions is the consequence of this arrangement and
form of its constituent parts, and is therefore only a secondary cha-
racter.

Two planes of cleavage in slate.—In preparing slates, the first
process is to split them along the planes of cleavage to the thickness
required, they are then to be cut to size; most slates of good quality
can be split tolerably straight down the sides of the sheet by apply-
ing the tool at the top, from which we see that besides the true or
principal planes of cleavage, there is also another direction in which
the rock has a tendency to split in a slighter degree; this may be
called the plane of secondary cleavage ; the workmen call it the “side
of the sheet.’’ The ends of the sheet must be chipped or sawed to
the size required, as the rock will not split at all in this direction,
which is across both the other planes of cleavage : in fact it will give
way in any other direction more easily than in this, which may be
called the plane of greatest resistance. .

A diagram will make this more intelligible, and will also explain

Ries 3! the relation which these va-

2. = rious planes have to the po-

vy sition of the constituent par-
ticles of the slate. Let us

suppose fig. 3 to represent a

block of slate, of which abcd

is one of the planes of clea-
vage, ad and bc showing the
dip, a6 and dc the strike of
the cleavage; bcgf is the
plane of secondary cleavage,
ab fe is the plane of greatest
resistance. The component
parts of the rock are repre-
sented enlarged, of an almond
7 shape, with their largest and
flattest sides parallel to the
true cleavage-plane acd, and with their longest diameters in the
direction of the dip of the cleavage a d.

It is obvious that with such a distribution of its particles, the rock
can offer less resistance to an attempt to split it down the plane of
cleavage a bed, than in any other direction ; for that plane, and all
planes parallel to it, pass along the flat surfaces of many of the par-
ticles, and intersect a smaller number of them than any other plane
which can be drawn through the block.

Next to the true cleavage-plane, the direction in which the rock
will offer least resistance is along the planes of secondary cleavage
b fg, for the particles being all lengthened in that direction, it will
more readily separate down that plane than in any cross direction.
Nevertheless the cleavage along these planes is very imperfect, and
the sheets often fly off in a curve instead of splitting straight down.

_ In any other direction the particles must from their form and po-

1848. ] SHARPE ON SLATY CLEAVAGE. 115

sition offer greater resistance than along the two directions just men-
tioned, but the greatest resistance will be along the plane a 6 fe and
all planes parallel to it, as they have to cut through a greater number
of the constituent almond-shaped particles of the rock than any others :
these therefore are the planes of greatest resistance. In the quarries
in Langdale these planes are parallel to the bedding, nevertheless the
rock will not split along them.

In splitting up slate, the workmen have observed that the sheets
will bear a greater force without breaking, when the tool is applied
“at the end” of the sheet, than if it is applied “at the side.’ This
is an illustration of what has just been stated; when the tool is ap-
plied at the end of the sheet, it opens the slate down the dip of the
cleavage-planes, and produces a strain on the sheet in the direction
of its greatest power of resistance ; but when the tool is applied ‘at
the side”’ of the sheet, the strain falls along the planes of secondary
cleavage, and the sheet easily breaks.

Slate-pencil Rock.—Slate-pencils are cut from a slate which is
soft enough not to scratch, and which can be split down the planes
of secondary cleavage with nearly the same facility as along the true
cleavage. The latter character is not common. ‘There are two
quarries near the village of Shap which have long been worked for
pencils, but the manufacture has declined in consequence of the
softer-grained pencils imported from Holland being preferred.

The Southern Quarry is on Thornthwaite Gill in Ralphland, about
a mile and a half west of Shap. The rock is the Skiddaw slate, ap-
parently hardened from its proximity to the Shap granite ; the beds
strike N.E., and dip to the N.W. at about 60°: they contain many
layers of large ferrugmous clay nodules; the principal cleavage co-
incides with the bedding and dips N.W. 60°, which is about the
usual direction of the cleavage along that line of beds: the secondary
cleavage is nearly at right angles to the true cleavage, and dips S.E.
between 20° and 30°.

The other quarry is on Rosgill Moor, between two and three miles
north of the former, and about three miles north-west of Shap; the
rock is a soft black clay-slate, readily decomposing from exposure,
and containing beds of large ferruginous clay nodules: it belongs to
the Skiddaw slate, and agrees in all its mineral characters with the
upper part of that formation as seen near Keswick. The beds dip
N.E. 30°; the principal cleavage dips N. by W. 60°, the secondary
cleavage dips 8. by E. 15°. In both these quarries the beds are in-
tersected by a remarkable number of joints cutting through them in
various directions. At Rosgill Moor the weathered surfaces of rock
break up along both the planes of cleavage, and the sides of the
quarry present the ends of innumerable four-sided prisms of slate,
from a quarter to half an inch square, resembling those cut by the
workmen to make pencils from ; in this the pencil-rock contrasts with
the ordinary slate rocks which when weathered break up into thin
sheets.

I was anxious to examine all the circumstances connected with
pencil-rock, in hopes of finding the cause of the peculiar development

116 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. | Novy. I,

of the secondary cleavage, but the situation of the quarries near Shap
is very unfavourable to such an object, and I could not learn of any
other similar rock in the district. The quarries are worked on low
moors where very little of the rock is exposed for several miles round,
and little can be seen of its relations to the neighbouring beds.
Judging from analogy with the supposed cause of the principal
cleavage, it may be conjectured that the secondary cleavage is due to
a second compression which the rock has undergone in a different di-
rection from the first. This is im harmony with the position of the
Shap pencil-rock, between two great masses of erupted rocks of dif-
ferent dates, the granite of Wastdale Head on the south, and the
porphyritic bands on the north ; and is confirmed by the numerous
joints observed in the quarries, which show that the rock has under-
gone great and complicated pressure.

Cleavage not connected with crystallization.—In the rocks ex-
amined, I could find no connection between crystallization and clea-
vage; on the contrary, everything tended to show that the cleavage
has been produced by causes solely mechanical. In many of the
beds of slate there are cubical crystals of iron pyrites scattered through
the rock without any reference to the direction of the cleavage: va-
rious rhomboidal crystals of different minerals also occur in slate, but
I have seen no instance of their sides bemg based on the cleavage-
planes, or of their having any definite position in the rock. In the
chiastolite slate of Skiddaw, the long prisms of chiastolite traverse
the rock in all directions, without showing any preference either for
the planes of bedding or cleavage.

But the most conclusive evidence is found in the altered slates
resting on the igneous rocks, in which the original mechanical struc-
ture of the rock is seen in combination with a considerable degree of
crystallization. In these rocks, which are common in the green
slate district, all the mechanical portions of the rock appear to have
been compressed between the planes of cleavage, but the crystalline
portions are quite independent of the cleavage, both im position and
form.

Moreover, in tracing the gradual change of character as we pass
from true slates, through the metamorphic rocks to those of decidedly
igneous origin, we always find the cleavage more developed in pro-
portion as the rock is least crystalline. In the best roofing-slate,
where the cleavage is strongest, there is no trace of crystallization :
in the metamorphic slates the cleavage is fainter in proportion as the
crystals in them are more abundant ; and on reaching a thoroughly
crystalline rock, we lose the cleavage entirely. This alone is a suffi-
cient proof that the cleavage had an origin unconnected with crystal-
lization.

There are apparent exceptions to the above remarks in the thin
laminze of talc and mica which are found lying along the cleavage-
planes of certain slates; for although those laminze have no definite
form, their segregation from the mass of the rock is undoubtedly a
process approaching to crystallization. Probably the reason that
they have been formed on the planes of cleavage is, that the rock

1848. ] SHARPE ON SLATY CLEAVAGE. 117

separated more readily on those planes than elsewhere, aud thus ad-
mitted them to form along them. If this be true, the laminze of talc
and mica must have been formed after the cleavage, and present no
contradiction to the views previously stated.

Irregularities in the direction of the cleavage-planes.—There are
occasional irregularities in the direction of the cleavage which should
be studied, as they may assist our search after the general laws which
have regulated its arrangement. Some of these are mentioned by
Mr. Phillips in the Report of the British Association at Cork in 1843,
p- 60, and other cases have been mentioned to me verbally by that
gentleman.

In one of the slate-quarries at Patterdale, a sheet of quartz about
an inch thick lies between two beds of slate: the cleavage does not
pass into the quartz, and the planes ofscleavage are slightly bent out
of their course into a curve on each side of the quartz bed, as shown
in figure 4.

Fig. 4.
A Z

a iA

Here the lines A A and aa represent the surfaces of the different
beds of slate dipping to the north at an angle of 45°; QQ is a bed of
quartz interstratified in the rock. The upright lines represent the
cleavage-planes which dip N. 25° W. 85°: they do not enter the
sheet of quartz, and appear slightly deflected by it on each side for
the distance of about two inches. The surfaces of the beds aa are
not flat, but are slightly waved in parallel lines coincident with the
strike of the cleavage, a peculiarity to which we will return shortly.

In one of the Langdale quarries there is a similar bending of the
cleavage against a sheet of quartz which cuts through the bedding
along a joint in the rock: the circumstances are so nearly the same,
that it is not necessary to add another drawing.

Such irregularities are of frequent occurrence, and their cause is

118 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [Nov. 1,

obviously mechanical ; the resistance offered by the oblique sheet of
quartz to the pressure forward of the mass, has caused the bending
of the sheets of slate at the ends which abut against the quartz.
A slight change in the direction of the clea-
Figwo. vage may frequently be observed in its passage
¥! 1 1 ., from one bed of rock to another, arising pro-
/ bably from beds of different hardness offermg
different degrees of resistance to pressure.
Figure 5 represents the section of a fragment
of slate from Langdale, in which the thin beds
© aaand 6b are rather softer than the other beds
cc; the lines yy show the direction of the
planes of cleavage, which are perpendicular in
passing through the beds ¢ c, but dip 80° to the
southward in the beds aa and 66, the beds
a dipping to the north at an angle of 60°.

Here the change in the direction of the
cleavage in passing from bed to bed is fully
10°, which is an unusual amount of deviation ;
but a variation of two or three degrees under
such circumstances is often met with. The
cause of these irregularities must also be me-
chanical.

The surface of particular beds of slate is
sometimes found broken up into a series of
steps parallel to the strike of the cleavage :
the front of each step is formed by the plane
of cleavage, and the top by a portion of the
bed which has been displaced from its original
; position and appears to lie at an angle towards
7 the original plane of bedding.

Fig. 6 represents the section of a fragment of slate from the

“ Pilton beds”’ two miles north of Barnstaple: the upper broken
line a a shows the present form of the surface of a bed covered with

1848. | SHARPE ON SLATY CLEAVAGE. 119

organic remains. The lines y y show the direction of the cleavage-
planes. The plane of bedding aa has been broken into a very irre-
gular series of steps by some force which has either moved each
Bigs.i7: sheet of slate forward in ad-
a vance of its neighbour, or has
caused an uneven expansion
of the parts of the rock. The
fossils have suffered from this
movement of the surface.
The whole bed is covered by
small irregular ridges parallel
to the cleavage, which make
it impossible to measure the
angles accurately.

In figure 7, aa represents
the section of the surface of
a bed of black calcareous
slate in the Bickington lime-
stone quarry, North Devon,
which is bent over in a steep
arch, and dips rapidly to the
north; it is intersected by
cleavage y y, dipping nearly
70° to the south. In this
instance the surface of the
bed aa is bent into parallel
waves without its continuity
being broken: but the out-
lines of the beds below 66
and ce may be traced in the
solid rock unchanged; so that
the disturbance of the surface seems only to have taken place where
the looser packing of the rocks allowed room for some play of their

arts.
3 Figure 8 represents another case of the same kind, observed in the
Brathay flag-stone quarry near Ambleside ; aa being the surfece of
a bed, and y y the planes of cleavage.

Fig. 8.

In cases like the last two, the whole surface of the beds aa is
covered with irregular flutings running in the direction of the strike

120 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL Society. [Nov. l,

of the cleavage: such flutimgs vary in width from a fraction of an
inch to six inches or more, and they are usually closer together in
the slates of finest grain, in which the whole surface of the beds is
sometimes roughened by numerous ridges parallel to the strike of the
cleavage ; im such cases it is useless to search for fossils, for if they
ever existed, they must have been chopped up and destroyed in the
change of surface of the bed. Similar flutings and ridges are also to
be seen on the sides of many open joints as well as on the beds.

There seems here to have been an irregular expansion of the rock,
owing to a softer and more yielding bed or an open crack affording
less resistance to the pressure it has been proved to have undergone.
More numerous observations are required before we can explain the
changes that have taken place; but it may be inferred that these
changes were connected with the cleavage, because the direction of
the flutings and ridges on the surface always corresponds with the
strike of the cleavage.

Arrangement of the cleavage-planes in the Cumbrian mountains,
and their relation to the position of the beds.—Although my pre-
sent object only relates to the cleavage of the Cumbrian district, it is
necessary to give a slight sketch of the position of the strata to show
the connection between the arrangement of the cleavage-planes and the
elevatory movements which the rocks have undergone: this is derived
from Professor Sedgwick’s various accounts of the geology of the
Lake district*, combined with my own observations in various parts
of it.

The mountainous district occupied by the Skiddaw slate and the
green slate, bounded on the north by the mountain limestone, and on
the south by the Coniston slate and limestone, appears to consist of
two great areas of elevation of about equal extent, separated by a line
running about W.S.W. to E.N.E. from Wastwater across Borrow-
dale, and passing a little to the north of Scawfell and Helvellynt+.

The position of the beds throughout the northern area is tolerably
regular, as they dip away from an anticlinal axis on the north of
Skiddaw which passes through the sienite of Carrock Fell. The
structure of the southern area is more complicated, and appears to
have been determined by several elevating forces connected with the
eruptions of the great bands of porphyry which traverse that part of
the country, and of the granites of Wastdale Head, Booth, &c. As
the circumstances attending the position both of the beds and of the
cleavage in the two areas are very different, they will be described
separately.

Northern area of elevation.—The two sections Nos. 1 & 2 drawn

* Sedgwick’s Introduction to the General Structure of the Cumbrian Moun-
tains, Trans. Geol. Soc. 2nd series, vol. iv. p. 47; On the Fossiliferous Slates of
Cumberland, &c., Journ. of Geol. Soc. vol. ii. p. 106; and Letters to Wordsworth,
published in the 3rd edition of Wordsworth’s Guide to the Lakes.

t In dividing the Lake district into two areas of elevation, I am departing from
the guidance of Professor Sedgwick, who has given a section from Kendal to the
Eden with a single axis of elevation on the north of Skiddaw (Journ. of Geol. Soc.
vol. ii. pe 106).

121

SHARPE ON SLATY CLEAVAGE.

1848.]

Axis of eleva-
tion.

Trap

S. 30° E. 45°

Skiddaw slate

Sy
i]
ol
&

From the north of Sxippaw to the middle of BoRRowDate.

1. Section showing the dip and position of the strata.

Skiddaw.

Keswick.

Borrowdale Fells.

Latrigg.

PUNY AI beer is

S. 30° E. 30°
Green slate.

S.30°E. 45°. S.30°E.45°. §.30°E.40°. S.30°E. 30°.

Porphyry,
Skiddaw slate with chiastolite. Skiddaw slate.

slightly slaty.

os
=3
og
o 8
> o
a8
Nn

2. Section showing the dip of the planes of cleavage.

Slate quarry.

Ss.

15° E. 25°
Green slate.

Watendlath.

< G,

South.

Porphyry:

YLLL
o
inp]
=
FS

S. 30° E. 45°.

° fe) fo)

19 oo o & gS & a
s bl Le) © © ™~ ™~ ~
ica} & {<2} & ic} & ica je}
° ° oO

= 3 > = & % % %
ine) oO ar) oO oo _ = ~~
w n Nn n wn H wn Dn

erpendicular.

122 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socIETy. ([Nov. ],

through Skiddaw illustrate this district; No.1 shows the position
of strata, and No. 2 the dip of the planes of cleavage, along the same
line of section from the mountain limestone of Uldale on the north to
the middle of Borrowdale, where a change of dip of the beds indicates
the commencement of another area of elevation.

The axis of this northern area consists of the sienite of Carrock
Fell and of sandy bands and dykes of igneous rocks of various cha-
racters running to the westward nearly as far as the foot of Bassen-
thwaite Water: on both sides of this axis the beds of slate dip away
from the igneous rocks at nearly the same angle.

From the anticlinal axis at Carrock Fell to Rossthwaite in Borrow-
dale, the beds dip constantly to the southward (between 8. 15° E. and
S. 30° E.) ; the distance is twelve miles, which is the semidiameter of
the area of elevation. The series of beds, commencing with the
lowest, is as follows :—

1. Skiddaw Slate, viz.—

a. Black clay-slate with crystals of chiastolite in all the northern
half of Skiddaw and Saddleback : the chiastolite seems to be due to
the neighbouring igneous agency, as the western continuation of the
same beds near Bassenthwaite consists of soft brown clay-slate with-
out chiastolite. In Skiddaw these beds dip S. 30° E. 45°, and the
cleavage coincides both in dip and strike with the bedding.

6. Hard black clay-slate, forming the northern part of Skiddaw,
where it dips S. 30° E. 30°, with a cleavage which dips S. 30° E. 50°.

e. Rotten dark brown clay-slate, with layers of ferruginous clay
nodules approaching a clay ironstone. This forms the lower hill of
Latrigg and the valley of Keswick: the beds dip 8. 30° E. 30°, and
the cleavage dips S. 50° E. 60°.

2. Green slate, which overlies the Skiddaw slate in the first high
hills on the sides of Derwentwater. It is usually either a hard gritty
siliceous rock of a light grey colour, unfit for use as slate, or a roofing-
slate of light greenish tint, somewhat approaching steatite in its softer
beds, and containing numerous plates of dark green indurated tale on
the surface of the planes of cleavage. Many beds are brecciated, the
foreign masses usually consisting of slate differing in colour and hard-
ness from the matrix. On the line of the sections Nos. 1 & 2, the
green slate is interrupted by two bands of porphyry, which alter the
character of the slates near them without disturbing the direction of
the beds or cleavage: one of these bands crosses Derwentwater near
its head, the other crosses Borrowdale at the Castle Hill.

At the side of Derwentwater the green slate dips about S. 30° E. 30°,
the cleavage dipping 8.15° E.70°. A little way up Borrowdale the slate
is quarried on a large scale, it here dips S. 15° E. 30°, and the clea-
vage dips 8. 15° E. 75°; near Rossthwaite the beds dip S. 15° E. 25°,
and the cleavage dips 8S. 15° E. 85°: just beyond this spot the dip of
the beds changes to the west of north, and the cleavage is perpendi-
cular with a strike of N. 65° E. The line which separates the two
great areas of elevation of the Lake Mountains passes here, and the
position of the beds to the south of it must be explained by examining
the forces which have acted farther south.

1848. ] SHARPE ON SLATY CLEAVAGE. 123

Starting from the anticlinal axis north of Skiddaw, the elevation of
the beds has gradually diminished as they are farther from the axis,
from an angle of 45° to one of 25°; a result which agrees with the
ordinary pheenomena of elevation, which diminish in amount in pro-
portion to the distance from the elevating power. But the angle of
inclination of the cleavage-planes has increased as they recede from
the axis from 45° to 90°, being lowest at the axis, and perpendicular
exactly on the line where the elevating force ceases to act, or is
neutralized by meeting an opposing force proceeding from another
axis of elevation. This is so precisely analogous to the two cases de-
scribed in my former paper as occurring in North Wales and Devon-
shire (pp. 90 and 94), as to make it probable that wherever the beds
throughout a large area are elevated from a single axis, the cleavage
will be found to be arranged in an arch over that axis, with an in-
crease of elevation from the axis to the boundary of the area of eleva-
tion, on which line we may expect to find it perpendicular.

On the northern side of the area, the Skiddaw slate is only visible
for a breadth of one or two miles on the north of the igneous axis of
Carrock Fell; beyond that distance, both that and all the rest of the
older formations are covered up by an overlap of the mountain lime-
stone, which is nearly horizontal, and rests unconformably on the
Skiddaw slate, which dips N. 25° W. 40°, being a dark brown clay-
slate without chiastolite; the cleavage dips N. 25° W. 30°, being less
inclined than the bedding, which is rare in the north of England,
though of common occurrence in Cornwall and Devonshire.

From the mountain limestone of Uldale and Hesket Newmarket
covering up and concealing the older formations to the northward,
we are prevented trom seeing the rest of that side of the area of eleva-
tion ; but enough is visible to show us that the Carrock Fell sienite
is the axis of the elevation both of the beds and of the cleavage of the
area.

Southern area of elevation.—The Sections 3 and 4 are drawn
along the same line through the middle of the southern portion of the
slate district of the Lakes, and are arranged on the same principle as
the former sections; No. 3 showing the position of the strata, and
No. 4 the dip of the cleavage-planes. ‘They commence on the north
of Helvellyn at the porphyry of Greenside, which is on the line of
separation between the two areas of elevation of the district, and
extend southward to Bowness, beyond which place the cleavage is
more faint, and only to be traced at intervals with some difficulty.
These two sections are not exactly in continuation of the former,
Nos. 1 and 2; but, together with them, complete a section across the
Lake Mountains. There are however, on the east and west of the line
of sections, two small districts where the Skiddaw slate has been raised
_to the surface by the eruptions of the granites of Booth and Shap

Fell, which are not described in this paper*.

The district traversed by these sections presents in its complicated

and disturbed features a most striking contrast to the regularity of

* For the elevation of the slates of Black Comb by the Booth Granite, see Sedg-
wick, Journ. Geol]. Soc. vol. ii. p. 111.
VOL. V.—PART I. K

124 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [Nov. l,

Greenside. JZ
Porphyry. g
=
Z i ; Glenridding.
S. 15° E. 85°. & (N. 15° W. 75°.
= | —\ Whiteside.
i
Perpendicular. E|
21 §.25° E.35°.
S. 25° E. 75°. 2 Yy Hs
E. 80°. = A
E. 85°. 8 | S.25° E. 30°. 3
Perpendicular. N. 95° W. 30°.
INie25° Wie SO Slate. Eagle Crag.

W. 80°.

Grisedale Tarn.

Hause.

N. 20° W. 70°, = Bedding obscure.

Slate (crystalline).

N. 40° W. 80°.

Cleavage faint.

ae)

= 2
ct

33 Grasmere.

“pyeIys OY} JO UoTjsod pue dip oy} Sulmoys UOT Ig “¢

‘a8vavopo Jo souvld oy} Jo dip oy} SuLMoYs UOTIg “p
"SSUNMOQ 07 NATIGAITY fO ypl0u ay7 wou

N. 45° W. 80°. ° °
Sebo Br d0o
Roofing-slate. Greenisinte:
e we
N. 70°. g at 25° E.30% 74 Rydal.
Cleavage faint. at Ez
N, 80°. fe. | ; A
Perpendicular. |= Be S..25° E. 25°. ie rea
Lex} .
N. 25° W. 85°. o9 Fault? A" Ambleside
Z
FA 85°, S. 25° E. 50°. Zs
ea Green slate. y Wans Fell.
i, S.25° E. 40°.
Perpendicular.
fo) ° cae S. 25° E. 30°.
Og ie ia a BS ‘Dark slate.
=» @ J Coniston limestone. |
N. 25° W. 70°. Ro y ! Troutbeck.
fe = Coniston flagstone.
N. 25° W. 65°. f Spee eaae
ise
g ccd | Applethwaite.
n
5. 45° E. 85°. < g.=.| S.25° E. 65°.
i]
8.) 2e | N.45°w. 50°.
¥ ° © hb
Perpendicular. = | Soe
mi 24
N. 35° W. 85°. g)esg
B | 221 s. 35° E. 5°.
N. 35° W. 80°. 5. | ps.
5) o L Burthwaite.
Ss. 35° E. 45°.
Dark flagstone (Ire-
u leth slate). mawaces
5° W. 75°. S. 35° E, 50°.

Ludlow ? formation.

“yqnog

“ee
aot

1848. | SHARPE ON SLATY CLEAVAGE. 125

the northern area; and the position of the planes of cleavage is as
complicated as that of the strata. It would be tedious to go into
these disturbances in detail, but we must glance over them, as they
show how the position of the cleavage-planes has depended on the
eruptive forces which have elevated and disturbed the strata, and thus
confirm the opinion that the cleavage is due to mechanical causes.

The most complicated part of this area is that occupied by the
green slates which has been broken through by several bands of por-
phyritic rocks : these have modified the arrangement both of the strata
and of the cleavage, and have influenced the physical geography, so
that we must first examine their position on the line of country
crossed by the sections.

Commencing on the north, the first great band of porphyry seen on
section 3 is that of Greenside, on the north side of Glenridding, which
forms the limit of the section, and belongs to the northern area of
elevation just described: the general direction of this band is east
from the southern part of Derwentwater to the southern part of
Ulswater.

The Greenside porphyry is succeeded by the slates of Helvellyn,
the line between them being well marked by a great fault running
down Free Mosedale and the lower part of Glenridding : throughout
Helvellyn the slate is more or less crystalline, but both the cleavage
and the bedding are well seen. In Raise and Whiteside the slate
dips N. 15° W. 75°, its cleavage dipping 8. 15° E. 85°: there is a
fault at the head of Glenridding forming an anticlinal axis on which
the cleavage is perpendicular and strikes with the beds; beyond that
fault in the higher parts of Helvellyn, the slates dip S. 25° E. 30° to
35°; the cleavage dips close to the fault 8. 25° E. 75°; but its eleva-
tion gradually creases to the southward, and it is again perpendi-
cular on the south side of Helvellyn High Man where another fault
occurs, at which the beds form a synclinal axis: in the Eagle Crag
the slate is more crystalline, and dips N. 25° W. 30°, resting on the
porphyry of Grisedale Head. In the Eagle Crag the cleavage dips
N. 25° W. 85°, and at the junction of the slate and porphyry N. 25°
W. 80°.

The band of porphyry which crosses the country south of Helvel-
lyn is about two miles wide: on the line of section 3, it divides the
waters of Cumberland and Westmoreland at the ridge of which
Dunmail Raise is a part: its general direction is east. At the south
end of Raise Gap, it is succeeded by a metamorphic slate with a
cleavage dipping N. 20° W. 70°, in which the traces of bedding can
hardly be distinguished ; this crosses the Keswick road about 14
mile north of Grasmere.

South of the metamorphic slate we find another great band of
porphyritic rock nearly a mile and a half wide, which reaches to the
banks of Grasmere: on section 3, this rock has a faint but regular
cleavage dipping N. 40° W. 80°, so that we might be tempted to
regard it as a slate rock of which the bedding has been obliterated,
and the structure rendered crystalline by igneous agency below the
surface. But farther east, the same band forms the summit of the

K 2

126 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. l,

Kirkstone Pass, where it is a purely crystalline rock without clea-
vage, but flanked at each end of the Pass by slaty semicrystalline
rocks gradually passing into slate.

The slaty porphyry of Grasmere is overlaid by a hard green slate,
which has been quarried largely at the head of Rydal Water, where
it dips S. 25° KE. 30°, with a cleavage which dips N. 45° W. 80°:
the rock is too hard to work for roofing, yet it is the continuation of
the beds which supply the excellent roofing-slates of Langdale.

South of Rydal, the usual dip of all the beds is to the southward
(generally about 8.S.E.), although there are many local changes of
the dip and repetitions of the beds: it is therefore clear that on
quitting the porphyry of Grasmere we have passed the axis of eleva-
tion of the district. Apparently all the porphyritic rocks between
Helvellyn and Grasmere must be regarded as one great band of
igneous eruption; the intervening metamorphic slates bemg perhaps
overlying masses raised up on the surface of the porphyry. The
total width of the bands of porphyry thus united is about four miles,
and their direction very nearly east: the slates rest on them and dip
away from them on each side, and they thus form the axis of the
elevation of the southern area of the Lake district.

The green slate of Rydal Water is succeeded by a metamorphic
semicrystalline slate, which, as far as its obscure bedding can be
seen, dips 8. 25° E. 25°, reaching from Rydal Water nearly to Am-
bleside, with a faint cleavage dipping N. 70° and N. 80°. But in
Loughrigg Fell, a little to the west of the line of section 3, we find a
mass of igneous rock without bedding or cleavage bearing east ; and
some distance to the eastward, a similar igneous rock breaks out on
the same line in Kentmere and Long Sleddale: thus the metamor-
phic slates appear to cover a band of igneous rock below. In this
instance the cleavage strikes east in accordance with the direction of
the band of porphyry, instead of followmg the usual direction of
E.N.E., which is the ordinary strike of the cleavage and bedding of
the slates throughout the Lake Mountains.

At Ambleside the green slate dips south, and the cleavage is _per-
pendicular with a strike to the east; but this position is connected
with some faults at the head of Windermere which require working
out. In Wans Fell the green slate dips 8. 25° E. 50° to 40°, the
cleavage dipping N. 25° W. 85°.

In Troutbeck the green slate is overlaid by the fossiliferous series
of the Coniston beds, which have been often described: at the junc-
tion of the two formations the cleavage is perpendicular, striking with
the beds E. 25° N., but it soon returns to a dip to N. 25° W., the
angle of inclination gradually diminishing from 85° to 70°.

The flagstones above the Coniston beds have been referred by
Professor Sedgwick to the Denbighshire flagstone, or in other words
to the Wenlock formation: I formerly combated this opinion, but
now concur in its accuracy, having seen the face of the flags of Ap-
plethwaite Common covered with the remains of Creseis and Grap-
tolites similar to those of Denbighshire. In these beds the cleavage
is still marked, but its planes are more distant than in the true slates.

a
-

1848. | SHARPE ON SLATY CLEAVAGE. 127

The Wenlock flags rest conformably on the Coniston beds, and end
with a black slaty flagstone, quarried on the north side of Bowness,
which is the equivalent of the Ireleth slate of North Lancashire.
There are several anticlinal and synclinal axes in this series, and the
beds are frequently repeated on the surface, but on the whole the
formation dips about 8.S.E. The cleavage meets in an axis on Ap-
plethwaite Common, and then dips 8. 45° E. 85°. It is perpendi-

cular on the line of one of the faults, and then dips N. 35° W. 85°;

the dip continues in the same direction as far as Bowness, the incii-
nation diminishing from 85° to 70°.

In the series of coarse greywackes south of Bowness, the cleavage
is less marked, and there is sometimes a danger of confounding it
with some of the numerous joints which traverse the rocks: for this
reason I carried my observations no farther in that direction, al-
though I believe that a careful examination of the beds would detect
cleavage much farther south. The evidence of the compression of
the rock, which is afforded by the distortion of the organic remains
in uniform directions, is found in a slight degree through the Upper
Ludlow rocks south of Kendal, in beds which hardly show a trace of
cleavage ; so that it seems that a slight degree of compression was not
sufficient to produce the cleavage.

If we take a general view of the stratification, overlooking minor
disturbances and irregularities, we must regard the great porphyritic
bands of Raise and Kirkstone as one great axis of igneous eruption,
running nearly east, and elevating the beds into a saddle, those of
Helvellyn dipping principally northward, and those south of the axis
dipping on the whole southward. But on taking a similar general
view of the cleavage, we find no approach to any arch like that seen
in the northern area of elevation ; nor even to any regularity of posi-
tion. From Helvellyn to Bowness the cleavage (with some few ex-
ceptions) dips at high angles to the N.N.W.; the extreme variation
lying between N. 25° W. 65°, and S. 45° E. 85°. Thus it seems that
the eruption or the presence of the bands of porphyry has interfered
materially with the arrangement of the planes of cleavage.

On comparing closely the relative positions of the bedding and
cleavage, it will be seen that there is a fault or axis in the stratifica-
tion wherever the planes of cleavage are perpendicular, and this co-
incidence occurs too often to be due to accident. This is in harmony
with the views stated in my former paper, that the direction of the
planes of cleavage depended on the direction of the pressure on the
beds which accompanied their elevation, and that the cleavage was
perpendicular where that pressure ceased to act, or was arrested by
another force meeting it in a contrary direction ; for in a district
traversed by so many bands of eruptive rocks, the compressing forces
which accompanied the elevation of the various masses of rock may
have acted independently between each of the erupted masses, and
these forces must have neutralized one another where they met at a
fault, on which the cleavage is perpendicular.

Or if it should appear that the cleavage was formed during an ele-
vation of the beds at a later period than the eruption of the porphy-

128 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL Society. ([Nov. 1,

ries, it might then be conjectured that the hard vertical bands of
porphyry had interrupted the regularity of the pressure, and had
caused that want of order in the arrangement of the cleavage which
is so remarkable an exception in this district to its usual symmetry.
In either case the co-occurrence of faults and lines of perpendicular
cleavage points to a mechanical cause of the pheenomenon.

It is a singular feature of the Lake district, that though the for-
mations strike about E.N.E., and the planes of cleavage usually
follow the same direction, the great bands of porphyritic rock run
nearly east. The physical geography of the district also presents a
remarkable feature connected with this subject, which is that most
of the valleys and great mountain ridges run nearly north, and very
rarely follow the strike of the strata, or cross it at right angles ;
their usual direction bemg at right angles to the bands of porphyry.

Thus there seem to have been two great periods of elevation; the
one when the porphyries were forced through long parallel chasms
running east, and those great rents in the surface were formed nearly
at right angles to them, which are now the lines of the great valleys
running north ; the other connected with the eruption of the sienites,
and probably also of the granites which have thrown up the slates as
we now find them with a strike of E.N.E., and have given the same
direction to the cleavage, but without effacmg the leading physical
features of the district. I have not studied the country enough to
go more at length into the details of this difficult subject, but I
could not omit the mention of it, as it has an indirect bearmg on my
present object, and has great mterest in itself; and has, I believe,
been hitherto overlooked.

Conclusion.—The following is a general summary of the conclu-
sions drawn from the observations detailed in this and the preceding

aper.
; The direction of the cleavage-planes is in direct relation to the
movements of elevation of the strata, being everywhere at right
angles to the direction of the elevating force ; and where the beds
have been raised with regularity over a single axis, the cleavage-
planes appear to be portions of curves, of which the width of the area
of elevation is the diameter.

In slaty rocks there has been a considerable compression of the
mass of rock between the planes of cleavage ; that is, in the direction
corresponding to that of the elevating force; this compression being
shown by the distortion of the included organic remains, and the flat-
tening of the component portions of the rock, and bearing a propor-
tion to the degree in which the cleavage is developed.

The compression of the mass in a direction perpendicular to the
cleavage has been partially compensated by its expansion along the
dip of the cleavage, in which direction only its expansion was per-
mitted as the elevation of the beds enlarged the area occupied by
them. The difference between the amount of compression in one
direction and of expansion in another, is accounted for in the greater
density of the rock after compression.

No connection has been detected between cleavage and crystalliza-

1848. | GESNER ON THE GYPSUM OF NOVA SCOTIA. 129

tion, beyond a tendency of plates of tale and mica to arrange them-
selves along the planes of cleavage: but as on these planes there
would be the least resistance to their intrusion or formation, this may
have been a subsequent operation, and should not alter our opinion
of the cause of the cleavage.

Thus all our observations and deductions ultimately converge to
the conclusion that the cleavage must be attributed to pressure caused
by the elevation of great masses of rock under conditions of which
we are ignorant. And if to this conclusion it should be objected that
no similar results can be produced by experiment, I reply that we
have never tried the experiment with a power at all to be compared
to that employed; and that this may be one of many cases where
our attempts to imitate the operations of nature fail, owing to the
feebleness of our means, and the shortness of the period during which
we can employ them.

NovEMBER 15, 1848.
The following communications were read :-—

1. On the Gypsum of Nova Scotta.
By AprauamM GeEsner, For. Mem. G.S.

(In a letter to Sir Charles Lyell.)

SINCE my return to Nova Scotia I have had an opportunity of ex-
amining several places the geology of which had been unexplored.
I scarcely need say that at the time of your visit to this country I
had based my opinions in regard to the position of the gypsiferous
sandstones and coal-measures of Nova Scotia upon the facts that I
was then acquainted with, and the views of those who had worked in
the same field. The declarations also that have been often made in
reference to the situation of the gypsiferous strata of England had, I
must say, diverted my attention from the subject to which you have
since fully adverted. |

I feel it now but just and honourable to state, that subsequent ob-
servations have convinced me that the order of succession which you
have laid down in your remarks in the Proceedings of the Geological
Society, and in your Travels in America, in reference to the above
rock series, is correct. In a new work now in course of publication,
on the Industrial Resources of this Province, I have adverted to this
subject, and have given my reasons for renouncing my former opinions
in this matter, and I doubt not that in the gratification this acknow-
ledgment will afford you, on my part I shall receive as much indul-
gence as the case deserves ; nor need I add, that even in the advancing
state of the science similar errors will occur, especially in cases in-
volved in more or less obscurity. In reference to the question, which,
so far as I am concerned, is now no longer at issue, I will add a

130 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Noyv. 29,

section taken between the village of Truro and the valley of the Stie-
wacke, which I have found to be as follows.

sures and

Gypsum.
Coal-mea-
coal.

i
we
Quartzite and Trap. 8 :
1S)

Valley of the

Truro.
Red sand-
Stone.
Stiewacke.

rg Limestone.
ry y,

Distance 10 miles.

A similar section presents itself northward of Truro. At the St.
Croix River in the county of Hants, the Silurian slates are succeeded
by conglomerates, the conglomerates by gypsum and _fossiliferous
limestones, like those of the Shubenacadie, and the whole by ccal-
measures, which I believe embrace workable beds of coal. The dip
and order are such as leave no doubt on my mind of their true posi-
tion. It is my intention, as soon as my time will allow, to make a
communication to the Society, and to supply such facts as will, I
presume, set the matter at rest.

2. A comparison of the structural features of disturbed districts in
Europe and America. By Henry D. Rocers, For. Mem. G.S.,
Professor of Geology in the University of Pennsylvania.

[Ln consequence of Professor Rogers’s return to America, the publi-
cation of this paper is postponed for the present. |

NovEeMBER 29, 1848.
Charles Timms, Esq., was elected a Fellow of the Society.
The following communications were read :—

1. On Fossil Plants from the Anthracite Formation of the Alps of
Savoy. By C. J. F. Bunzury, Esq., F.G.S.

THE question which I propose to bring before the notice of the So-
ciety on this occasion may be considered one of the most curious in
geology, with relation to the distribution of organic remains and their
value in determining the age of rocks. Attention was first called to
it by the celebrated French geologist, M. Ele de Beaumont, mm a
paper which was published in the fourteenth volume of the ‘ Annales
des Sciences Naturelles,’ in the year 1828. He described the strata
observed in the neighbourhood of the village of Petit Coeur, near
Moutiers in the Tarentaise, and stated that beds of black schist, which
abound with impressions of ferns and other plants identical with
those of the coal formation, are there found interposed between beds
of argillaceous limestone containing belemnites. He appears to have
completely satisfied himself that the strata containing ferns and those

1848. | BUNBURY ON FOSSIL PLANTS. 131

containing belemnites really belonged to the same geological epoch,
and he refers the whole group, without hesitation, to the age of the
lias. This paper was followed by one from M. Adolphe Brongniart,
stating the result of his examination of the fossil plants from this
anomalous deposit. He enumerates nineteen species, besides some
others which were not in a state to admit of determination; and of
these nineteen he pronounces seventeen to be positively identical with
species of the coal formation, the remaining two being peculiar and
previously undescribed. In a subsequent communication, published
in the fifteenth volume of the ‘ Annales,’ M. Elie de Beaumont de-
scribed a series of strata of vast thickness occurring in the Alps be-
tween Briancon and St. Jean de Maurienne, and which he considered
as belonging to the same system with those previously described in
the Tarentaise. In the upper part of this series, at the Col de Char-
donnet, not far from Briangon, he collected several additional speci-
mens of fossil plants, which were likewise ascertained by M. Adolphe
Brongniart to be identical with well-known species from the true coal
formation. M.de Beaumont arrived at the conclusion that this great
system of beds, containing (according to his observations) fossil plants
of carboniferous species both in its upper and lower members, and
containing also belemnites and even ammonites, was the representa-
tive not only of the lias, but of the whole or greater part of the Ju-
rassic series. Thus the fossil plants (Calamites, Sigillarie and
Lepidodendra) of the Col de Chardonnet, which are absolutely identical
with those of the coal-measures, belong to strata which (according to
this view) are equivalent to the middle or upper parts of the oolite.

I am not aware that any further observations were made upon this
singular anomaly until the year 1844, when the Geological Society of
France held their meeting at Chambery, and their attention was natu-
rally directed to so remarkable a fact. A great number of the members
then visited the localities in the Tarentaise which had been described
by M. Ehe de Beaumont, and the observations which they made are
recorded in the Bulletin of that Society, to which I must refer for
ample details of the geological structure of that part of the Alps.
They confirmed the previous observations of M. de Beaumont, and
arrived (I believe unanimously) at the conclusion that the strata con-
taining ferns really alternated with those containing belemnites, and
could not be considered otherwise than as parts of the same formation.

In 1846 Mr. Horner, then President of our Society, called the
attention of English geologists to this subject in his Anniversary
Address, and he proposed an explanation of the anomaly, on which I
shall afterwards have occasion to make some remarks,

When I was in Italy, during the past summer, it was suggested to
me by some of my friends that I should examine the fossil plants
from the Tarentaise, of which a considerable collection exists in the
museum at Turm. Twenty years had elapsed since the publication
of M. Adolphe Brongniart’s memoir, and it was thought that the
additional materials which had been collected might possibly tend to
throw some new light on the question. Accordingly, during my stay
at Turin, I devoted some days to a careful examination of the speci-

132 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Nov. 29,

mens from the Tarentaise, and I must add that I received the kindest
assistance from Professor Sismonda and his brother, who afforded me
every possible facility for a full and satisfactory investigation. The
detailed descriptions of the species will be found at the end of this
paper. But I must observe in the first place that I found very con-
siderable difficulty in arriving at any satisfactory conclusions. The
portions of plants contained in these Alpine slates, though very nume-
rous, are in general very imperfect ; they are crowded and jumbled
together in great confusion, often much crushed and distorted ; they
are almost always converted into, or coated with, a silver-white tale,
which, while it gives them a beautiful appearance, is not very favour-
able to the preservation of the more minute and delicate markings ;
and, in particular, the details of the venation, on which the determi-
nation of fossil ferns so much depends, are seldom well exhibited.
Above all, the fronds of the ferns are very often distorted in a most
singular manner, whether in consequence of drifting, or of a process
of crystallization, perhaps accompanying the upheaval of the slates.
This distortion causes the leaflets, not only m different parts of the
same frond, but even on opposite sides of the same pinua, to differ
widely both in apparent form and in direction, so that it is often ex-
ceedingly difficult to determine what was their original and normal
character. Under these circumstances it will not be thought surpri-
sing that I should speak with a certain degree of caution and hesita-
tion as to the specific identity of most of these plants.

The results of my examination may be thus stated. Among the
specimens preserved in the museum at Turin I was able to distinguish
only fourteen different forms, for I will not venture to call them spe-
cies. Of these nine are Ferns, two Calamites, and three Astero-
phyllites or Annularie. Two of the Ferns, namely Odontopteris
Brardi and Pecopteris Cyathea, may be pronounced with tolerable
certainty to be identical with characteristic and well-known plants of
the coal-measures. Three, or perhaps four others have a strong re-
semblance to coal-measure plants, with which they may very probably
be specifically identical, but I cannot feel certain of them. Another
seems to be a remarkable and hitherto unnoticed variety of Odonto-
pteris Brardii, connecting that species with O. obtusa of Brongniart.
The eighth is perhaps a new species, but its nearest allies are plants
of the coal formation. Of the ninth the specimens are too imperfect
to admit of determination. Of the remaining plants Calamites ap-
proximatus and Annularia longifolia appear to be absolutely identical
with coal-measure plants; and the other two Annularie or Astero-
phyllites are at least very similar to carboniferous forms. The other
Calamite is undeterminable.

I now proceed to the fossil plants of the Col de Balme and other
localities near Chamounix. Sir Henry De la Beche was, I believe,
the first to record* the occurrence of impressions of ferns in the
schistose rocks of the Col de Balme, and he noticed their close resem-
blance to those of the coal formation. These impressions have since
become well known, and are familiar to most visitors to Chamounix,

eal Leie:

1848. | BUNBURY ON FOSSIL PLANTS. 133

where examples of them are generally exhibited for sale. Specimens
from this locality were examined and described, together with those
from the Tarentaise, by M. Adolphe Brongniart, in the paper already
quoted. The black slates of the Col de Balme and the Valorsine, in
which these plants occur, are admitted on all hands to belong to the
same formation with those of Petit Coeur ; but in the former localities
they present, as far as I can learn, no anomalous features, containing
no belemnites, nor, I believe, any animal remains whatever. When
at Chamounix, in August last, I visited the slate quarry near the Col
de Balme, from which, as I was informed, most of the specimens of
fossil plants had been collected, but I was not able to meet with any-
thing beyond some very slight and obscure traces of impressions. [|
procured, however, at Chamounix a considerable number of well-pre-
served specimens, and others were shown to me by Professor Pictet
in the museum at Geneva. The Col de Balme is not the only locality
near Chamounix from which these fossil plants have been procured ;
they occur also in the mountains above the village of Servoz, from
which the Dioza torrent comes down to join the Arve; and in the
mountains on the right bank of the Rhone, opposite to Martigny.
But in none of these places, as I was informed by M. Pictet, have
belemnites been found, nor any characteristic fossils, except the vege-
table impressions.

It may be worth while to add, that M. Elie de Beaumont himself
told me that he considered the slates of the Col de Balme as belong-
ing to the lowest part of the has formation. They are the lowest
fossiliferous rocks of that district, and rest immediately on crystalline
talcose schists, which pass downwards into the gneiss and protogene
that constitute the mountains on both sides of the valley of Cha-
mounix.

My specimens from the neighbourhood of Chamounix, and those
which I examined in the museum of Geneva, inelude ten different
forms of fossil plants, of which eight are Ferns, one a Calamite (spe-
cies undeterminable), and one an Asterophyllites. The two latter are
extremely like, if not absolutely identical with, common forms of the
coal-measures. Of the ferns, there are, I think, only two which I
did not observe among the Tarentaise specimens: one of these is the
well-known Neuropteris flecuosa, very distinctly characterized, and
perfectly agreeing with specimens from Pennsylvania and Cape Bre-
ton. The other comes near to Neuropteris conferta of Godppert (a
plant belonging to the upper part of the coal-measures), but the spe-
cimen is not sufficiently perfect for accurate determination.

Lastly, I may mention that M. Elie de Beaumont showed me, in
the collection of the Ecole des Mines at Paris, a well-preserved speci-
men of Lepidodendron ornatissimum of Brongniart (Lindley’s Ulo-
dendron majus), with its characteristic markings, and especially the
large round scars of abortive buds or branches, very distinctly exhi-
bited. This was brought from the Col de Chardonnet, not far from
Briancon. ‘The strata in that locality are considered by M. de Beau-
mont as belonging to the uppermost part of the Alpine anthracite
formation, and as probably equivalent to the Oxford clay.

134 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 29,

It will be seen that after the most careful examination which I
have been able to make of the fossil plants in question, I have come
to the same conclusions as M. Adolphe Brongniart with respect to
their general agreement with those of the coal-measures ; though I
have not been able to distinguish so great a number of species as he
did, nor to speak with the same confidence respecting the greater
part of them. So remarkable a fact as the association of plants cha-
racteristic of one formation with animal remains supposed to charac-
terize another and much later one, seems well-deserving of the atten-
tion of geologists. The twenty years which have elapsed since this
fact was first observed,—twenty years rich in geological research and
discovery,—have brought to light no parallel case ; nothing has been
discovered tending to soften or explain the anomaly ; the association
of coal-plants with belemnites at Petit Coeur still stands an isolated
and exceptional phenomenon.

Some, perhaps, may be disposed to object that our materials are not
sufficient to establish the fact of the identity of these plants with
those of the coal-measures. It is quite true that the greater part of
them are in an unsatisfactory condition ; and it is also true that m
many instances plants of very distinct species, and even belonging to
distinct genera, cannot be distinguished unless by an examination of
specimens in a perfect state. But two or three of the fossil plants .
contained in this Alpine formation are so distinctly characterized,
that there seems no reason to doubt their identity. And this at least
may be affirmed with confidence,— that many of them are undistin-
guishable from plants found im the true coal-measures, while none
have any close resemblance to those of the lias or the oolites.

The fact, that the strata which yield these plants do really alter-
nate with those containing belemnites, seems to be established by
such strong testimony that it is difficult to dispute it. We have not
only the evidence.of M.de Beaumont on this point, but that also of
Professor Sismonda and of the Abbé Chamousset, both of whom are
intimately acquainted with the district in which these fossils occur, and
have had great experience in the imvestigation of Alpine geology ;
and both assured me, that no one who examined the localities could
doubt that the beds containing these different kinds of fossils were
really members of the same geological formation. But it was sug-
gested by M. Michelin, at the meeting of the French Geological So-
ciety at Chambery, that the belemnites (which I believe are undeter-
minable as to species) might not be of the importance that had been
supposed, in reference to the age of these rocks. He was inclined to
consider it an instance of the occurrence of the belemnite form im the
carboniferous period, rather than of the continuance of the same spe-
cies of plants through several successive epochs. It is true that am-
monites also have been found in certain strata of the same district,
and which both M. de Beaumont and M. Sismonda consider as form-
ing part of the same series with those in question; but this latter
conclusion is, I believe, not admitted by the Abbé Chamousset. If
the determination of the age of these strata rests on the belemnites
alone, it may, I think, well be considered doubtful.

1848. ] BUNBURY ON FOSSIL PLANTS. 135

Mr. Horner, in his Anniversary Address, to which I have before
alluded, regards this pheenomenon as merely an instance of the per-
manence of certain species of plants; and as illustrative of the law,
that species which have had a wide range in space have also had a
long duration in time. ‘ We know,” he observes, “that the same
species of plants are found in the coal-fields belonging to the palzeozoic
carboniferous rocks of Europe and of North America, and in regions
with differences of more than thirty degrees of latitude ; and therefore
they may have been able to live through the many vicissitudes of con-
dition of the earth’s surface that must have occurred between the car-
boniferous and liassic periods.’? ‘This explanation, as it appears to
me, does not meet the difficulties of the case. If no plants different
from those in question occurred in the lias formation of Europe, and
if none of the intermediate rocks, between the carboniferous and the
liassic periods, were characterized by markedly distinct forms of vege-
table life, then the principle brought forward by Mr. Horner would
be strictly applicable ; and there would indeed, im such a case, be
nothing peculiarly anomalous or difficult of explanation. We should
merely have to conclude that vegetable remains were of no import-
ance whatever in determining the age of rocks. But the facts are far
different. The Permian system, indeed, which immediately follows
the coal, appears to resemble it closely in the character of its vege-
tation*. But in the Trias we have a very distinct flora, confined in-
deed to few localities, but marked by strong peculiarities both specific
and generic. The fossil vegetation of the Gres bigarré of Alsace, so
well illustrated by Messrs. Schimper and Mougeot, is tolerably rich
in species, and is quite different from that of the carboniferous period ;
it is characterized particularly by numerous coniferee, of two genera
(Albertia and Voltzia), and by a very remarkable fern, dnomopteris
Mougeoti, to which nothing similar has been found in any other
formation. The number of ferns found in this deposit, at Soultz-les-
bains near Strasbourg, amounts altogether to eleven or twelve species,
all of which, without exception, are clearly distinct from those of the
coal-measures. Now we must bear in mind that the prevailing and
most common ferns, at the present day, are, with two or three ex-
ceptions, the same over nearly the whole of Europe; and this ap-
pears to have been the case, m at least an equal degree, during the
carboniferous zera. Therefore, when we find the variegated sandstone
of Alsace, at so moderate a distance, comparatively speaking, from
some of the coal-fields of France and Germany}, characterized by an
entirely different set of ferns, with not even one species in common,
—we are warranted in concluding that a great change of climate or
other conditions, producing a remarkable change in the vegetation,
must have occurred between the deposition of the coal-measures and
that of the sandstones in question. Yet during that time, according
to the hypothesis I am considering, the Tarentaise and a small re-
gion near it continued to retain unchanged the vegetation of the coal
period ; although the distance from Soultz-les-bains to the Tarentaise

* See Murchison’s ‘ Russia.’
+ It is scarcely twenty geographical miles from Saarbriick.

136 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SociETy. [ Noy. 29,

is triflmg when compared to that between the British and the Sile-
sian coal-fields, which have so many plants in common.

The few traces of vegetable remains which have been found in the
variegated sandstone in other parts of Hurope, agree, as far as they
go, with those of Alsace.

In the Keuper formation we have again another very distinct
assemblage of plants, more numerous than those of the Grés bigarré,
and still more different from the coal-measure plants,—indeed, much
more approximating to the flora of the oolite. In truth, it is difficult,
as far as fossil plants are concerned, to fix a limit between the Keuper
and the lias: some of the beds most rich in vegetable remains (such
as the sandstone of Hoer in Scania, and the ‘‘Lettenkohle’’ of Ba-
reuth,) are referred by some authorities to the one of these forma-
tions, and by others to the other; and many species really seem to
be common to both. Of not less than sixty-eight species or forms,
enumerated in Unger’s Synopsis as belonging to the Keuper, not one
has been discovered in the coal-measures, and the Pecopteris Meriant
seems to be the only one that has even any close resemblance to a
plant of the true carboniferous age.

There may be some difficulty im precisely defining the fossil flora
of the lias, for although Unger gives a long list of plants from this
formation, many of them seem to belong more properly to the lower
oolite; while the sandstone of Hoer in Scania, which M. Adolphe
Brongniart referred to the age of the lias, is considered by M. Schim-
per as equivalent to the Keuper. As far as it is known, the fossil
vegetation of the lias is scarcely distinguishable, on the whole, from
that of the middle and lower oolites. I need not dwell on the flora of
these latter formations, which is so well displayed in our own coun-
try, and is so rich in species and so strongly characterized. It is
abundantly distinguished from the coal-measure flora, not only by an
invariable difference of species, but by the prevalence of altogether
different tribes of plants, and especially by the great number of Cy-
cadeze. Nor are these characteristics of the Jurassic vegetation con-
fined to Europe: the only rocks of that age which are known in the
United States (namely those constituting the Richmond coal-field in
Virginia) agree remarkably in their vegetable remains with the
oolites of Europe; and even in so distant a region as Cutch, the Ju-
rassic rocks are characterized by similar, though not identical, species
of fossil plants.

It is worth while to mention that, as is stated by M. Scipion Gras,
in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of France, Jurassic strata in
their ordinary condition appear in the department of the Isére, at no
very great distance from the limits of the anthracite formation of the
Alps; and these strata contain impressions of plants, entirely different
from those of the Alpine anthracite, and exhibiting the usual charac-
teristics of the oolitic flora. We must bear in mind that the Alpine
formation in question is considered by M. Elie de Beaumont as equi-
valent, not only to the lias, but to all the lower and middle part of
the Jurassic system. It is difficult to conceive such a peculiarity of
local circumstances, as could have occasioned one limited tract of the

1848. | BUNBURY ON FOSSIL PLANTS. 137

western Alps to retain its vegetation unchanged through so many
geological periods, while that of the surrounding regions was under-
going repeated changes.

Some few instances certainly are known of the insulated occurrence
of tropical species, especially of ferns and Lycopodia, in temperate
regions, far beyond their ordinary geographical range ; as, for ex-
ample, Trichomanes radicans* in Ireland, and Lycopodium cernuum
in the Azores. But to find a parallel case to that under considera-
tion, we must suppose an island, or a small tract of country, in which
all the ferns were specifically different from those of the surround-
ing countries, and identical with those of some far-distant region ;
for, in such cases, distance in space may be considered as representing
distance in geological time. I know of nothing analogous to this in
the present state of things.

Lastly, I must mention the hypothesis proposed by M. Adolphe
Brongniart. He holds, that the plants which we find preserved in
the slates of the Savoy Alps did not grow in those regions, but were
drifted from great distances ; that the peculiar vegetation which had
been widely spread over the globe in the carboniferous period, con-
tinued to exist in the hotter parts of the earth long after it had be-
come extinct in our temperate regions ; and that plants belonging to
those hotter climates were occasionally drifted as far north as where
the Alps now exist, and buried in the deposits in which we find them
alternating with belemnites. This is perhaps the most plausible ex-
planation that has been offered, and yet there seem to be some con-
siderable difficulties in the way of it. Although the vegetable remains
in the Alpine slates are not in general very well preserved, yet their
condition is not so very different from that of ordinary coal-plants as
it would seem that, according to this theory, it ought to be; and it is
not easy to conceive how the delicate leaves of ferns could be drifted,
either by the sea or by rivers, for so great a distance as from a tropi-
cal to a temperate climate, without bemg so much damaged as to lose
all their distinctive characters. Fruits, and seeds, and branches of
tropical plants are occasionally wafted by the sea to our coasts ; but
I never heard of any instance of leaves being so conveyed. Nor is it
easy to understand, on this supposition, how it happened that these
tropical ferns were not drifted to other parts of Europe, besides the
district under consideration.

Nevertheless, I must acknowledge that I have no more satisfactory
explanation to offer ; nor do I see any way out of the difficulty, un-
less by adopting the opinion of M. Michelin, to which I have already
referred. My attention has been directed chiefly to the botanical
aspect of the question, and I must leave the farther discussion of it
to those more versed than myself in strictly geological investigations,
and especially to those who have had experience in the difficult re-
searches of Alpime geology.

* See Hooker’s ‘ Species Filicum.’

138 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOciETY. [Nov.29,

Descriptions of Fossil Plants from the TARENTAISE.

1. NEUROPTERIS TENUIFOLIA ? (Brongn. Veg. Foss. p. 241. t. 72.
fii3d! ;

This is abundant, and some of the specimens are large, and tole-
rably complete. Leaflets very variable, even in the same specimen :
many of them agree well with the ordinary appearance of N. tenuifolia,
as seen in the coal-fields of England, and as figured by Brongniart ;
but very often they are longer and narrower than in the normal state
of that plant,—sometimes so long and narrow that they might be
thought to belong to Pecopteris lonchitica; while others again, on
the very same frond, agree almost exactly im outline with those of
Neuropteris flecuosa. Yam inclined to refer the plant to N. tenw-
folia rather than to feauosa, because the midrib is much more strongly
marked, and longer in proportion to the leaflets, than im normal spe-
cimens of the latter. The side-veins are very obscure in all the spe-
cimens, and this necessarily throws a doubt on the determination of
the species. There are many other variations, probably depending
on the distortion which the plants have undergone: sometimes the
leaflets are closely crowded, and even imbricated, sometimes remote ;
in some parts they lie almost flat along the rhachis, and again, in the
very same pinna, they are perpendicular to it, or even bent back.

N. tenuifolia was described by Brongniart from specimens collected
in the coal-mines of Saarbrick. It has smce been found in those of
Merthyr Tydvil and of Northumberland; in the district of Osna-
briick (according to specimens in the British Museum) ; and in the
Permian formation of Russia. I am not aware that it has been ob-
served in America.

2. NEUROPTERIS GIGANTEA ¢
Two or three detached leaflets, much resembling this species.

3. NEUROPTERIS?

Fragments of very large leaflets with the venation of a Neuropteris,
apparently belonging to some species like N. cngens, or possibly to a
Cyclopteris.

4. OpontorTerRis Brarpii (Brongn. Veg. Foss. v. i. p. 252.
t.75 & 76).

Fragments of this plant are numerous in the slates, and in many
of them, fortunately, the peculiar and characteristic venation is so
well preserved as to leave no doubt of the genus. The leaflets are
generally smaller and less acute than in the French plant figured by
Brongniart ; but there appears to be no difference of any importance.
None of the specimens however are sufficiently perfect to exhibit the
characteristic basal leaflets of the pmmee. O. Brardii appears to be
a very local fossil: there is no record of its having been found in the
coal-fields of England, Germany, or America; nor indeed anywhere

1848. | BUNBURY ON FOSSIL PLANTS. 139

(in the old coal formation) except in the mines of Lardin, near Ter-
rasson, in the department of the Dordogne.

5. OpontTorTERis optusa! (Brongn. Veg. Foss. p. 255. t. 78.
. 3 & 4).

Of this I observed some very incomplete fragments, entirely agree-
ing with Brongniart’s figure and description of O. obtusa; but other
and more numerous specimens are exactly intermediate between his
O. Brardii and O. obtusa, or rather exhibit the characters of both
together. In the best-preserved specimen, the leaflets are strikingly
different on the opposite sides of the same pinna: on the one side
they are short, almost round, or rather broader than long, and very
obtuse, much resembling those of O. obtusa in Brongniart’s fig. 4.
t.78,; on the other side they approach closely to the normal form
of O. Brardii. This singular incongruity is most strongly marked
towards the base of each pinna, the leaflets towards the extremity
becoming gradually more and more symmetrical, and, at last almost
wholly so. It is possible that the want of symmetry may be pro-
duced in part by distortion, for the leaflets are dissimilar in direction
as well as in form. The venation in this particular specimen is beau-
tifully preserved, and thoroughly characteristic of the genus Odon-
topteris.

Other fragments exhibit the dissimilarity of the leaflets in a greater
or less degree, with a variety of intermediate forms ; and, with every
reasonable allowance for distortion, they lead me to the conclusion
that the Odontopteris obtusa (of which small fragments only have
been hitherto observed) is merely a variety of O. Brardit.

The localities assigned by Brongniart to the Od. obtusa are, Lar-
din, near Terrasson (where it was found in company with O. Brardti
and O. minor), and the Col de l Ecuelle, near Chamounix. This latter
locality belongs to the ambiguous formation of which I am here
treating. The Od. obtusa of Lindley and Hutton’s ‘Fossil Flora’
(from the Shropshire coal-field) is considered by Gdppert as a di-
stinct species, which he calls O. Lindleyana.

6. Pecopreris CyaTHeA (Brongn. p. 307. t. 101).

Specimens well characterized, and referable with tolerable certainty
to this species, or rather perhaps to the variety called P. arborescens.

Pecopteris Cyathea appears to be one of the most generally dif-
fused of the fossil ferns of the coal-measures. It has been observed
in the coal-fields of Saxony, Bohemia and Silesia ; at St. Etienne, and
various other localities in France ; near Osnabriick ; in many of the
English coal-fields, and in most of those of North America. In this
enumeration I include the localities of the so-called P. arborescens,
as I find it impossible to distinguish between the two forms.

7. PECOPTERIS ?

A fern very like P. Cyathea, but with larger leaflets, of a rounder
form, and remarkably broad in proportion to their length. Main-
stalk excessively thick. Venation not distinguishable.

VOL. V.—PART I. L

140 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 29,

8. Pecopreris preRoipEs! (Brongn. p. 329, t. 99. f. 1%)

Two large specimens seem to approach near to this species. The
leaflets are rather narrower and less closely set than in Brongniart’s
figures; the venation very indistinct ; and the basal leaflets of the
pinne are not sufficiently well preserved to determine the species with
certainty.

9. PECOPTERIS f¢

This seems more nearly allied to P. Plukenetit (Brongn. t. 107.
f. 2) than to any other described species ; but the lobes of the leaflets
are of a much rounder form than in that plant; the leaflets them-
selves larger and more obtuse, except those towards the extremity of
each pinna, which become successively more and more acute; and
the pinnee are broader and more ovate in their outline ; venation very
obscure. Another specimen, which I conjecture to belong to the
same plant, and which is perhaps one of the lowest and largest pinnee
of the frond, is pmmnated, with broad ovate leaflets, divided half way
down into rounded lobes. The venation in this specimen is well
preserved ; the midrib of each leaflet is pmnated with rather strong
lateral veins running into the several lobes, but not reaching to the
extremities of them, and these veins are again pinnated with slender
and sometimes forked veinlets.

10. CALAMITES APPROXIMATUS (Brongn. Veg. Foss. p. 133, t. 24).

A very large specimen, decorticated, but well characterized.

Calam. approximatus has been found in the coal-mines of Alais, in
the department of the Gard, of Liége, of St. Etienne, of Kilkenny ;
in several of the English coal-fields, and abundantly in those of Nova
Scotia and Cape Breton.

11. CaLtamites Suckow11?

Many fragments, but none sufficient for the satisfactory determi-
nation of the species.

12. ASTEROPHYLLITES 2

A species with short internodes and very narrow incurved leaves
many in a whorl, much longer than the internodes.

13. ANNULARIA LONGIFOLIA.
(Asterophyllites equisetiformis, Lindl. and Hutt. Foss. Fl. v.ii.t. 124.)
Certainly the plant of the ‘ Fossil Flora,’ and the same as No. 40
of my paper on the coal-plants of Cape Breton.

Found in the Newcastle coal-field, at Wettin near Halle, and in
the island of Cape Breton.

14. ANNULARIA o

A small species, with short, wedge-shaped, very obtuse leaves; I
think the same as No. 41 of my paper above-quoted.

1848. | BUNBURY ON’ FOSSIL PLANTS. 141

Descriptions of Fossil Plants from the Cou pe BAaLME and other
places near CHAMOUNIX.

1. OponToPpTERIS BRARDII.

The same as from the Tarentaise. The leaflets are usually rather
less faleate and less acute than in Brongniart’s figures, and it passes
by intermediate specimens into the next form.

2. ODONTOPTERIS OBTUSA ?

Identical with No. 5 of the preceding list, but I do not find in any
of the specimens from the Col de Balme that curious want of sym-
metry which is so strikmg in some of those from the Tarentaise.

3. NEUROPTERIS FLEXUOSA (Brongn. Veg. Foss. p. 239, t. 68. f. 2).

The specimens of this plant are well preserved and highly charac-
teristic, agreeing precisely with those from the coal-fields of North
America. The specimens in my collection were found, as I was told,
in the mountains above Servoz; those which were shown to me by
M. Pictet, in the museum of Geneva, were from the mountains near
Martigny in the Valais. One fragment has the leaflets so broad and
round, that it might be referred to N. rotundifolia, but I have ob-
served a similar variation in English specimens of NV. flexuosa.

Neuropteris flecuosa is a very general and very abundant fossil in
the North American coal-fields, especially in those of Pennsylvania
and Cape Breton. In Europe it seems to be less frequent, but I have
seen specimens from Pembrokeshire and from Somersetshire, and it
is recorded from Bohemia.

4, Nevurorpreris?

Very like N. conferta of Goppert (Syst. Fil. Foss. p. 204, t. 40),
but the specimen is not perfect enough for satisfactory determination,
and in particular I cannot ascertain whether the main stem is winged
with decurrent leaflets,—one of the essential characteristic marks of
that species. I saw nothing similar to this among the specimens from
the Tarentaise.

5. NEUROPTERIS ALPINA (Sternb.) ?
(Gopp. Syst. Fil. Foss. p. 204?)

Several of the specimens from the Col de Balme seem to belong to
this species, though none of them are sufficiently perfect to display
its characters in a thoroughly satisfactory manner. It is very likely
that some of those from the Tarentaise, which I placed doubtfully
under NV. tenuifolia, may also belong to this, for, owing to the man-
ner in which the specimens are encrusted with talc, it is often diffi-
cult to determine whether the leaflets are really adnate to the rhachis
or not, and the venation is generally very obscure. Judging from
those examples in which the veins are best shown, I should think

that this species is not well placed in Newropteris.
L 2

142 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 29,

6. PECOPTERIS

? (allied to Cyathea).

Identical with No. 7 of my Tarentaise list. The leaflets are shorter
and broader in proportion than in any of the forms of the Cyathea
group figured by Brongniart ; they vary somewhat in outline in the
same specimen, being sometimes nearly round, sometimes more of a
square form. The main stalk is always remarkably thick in propor-
tion to the stalks of the pimnz which proceed from it.

? (allied to Plukenetit).

Identical with No. 9 of the preceding list. It is perhaps as nearly
allied to Sphenopteris latifolia of Brongniart (Aspidites latifolius,
Gopp.) as to Pecopt. Plukenetii ; at any rate it is one of those forms
which might almost equally well be referred either to Pecopteris or
to Sphenopteris. Venation quite undistinguishable in my specimen.

7. PECOPTERIS

8. PECOPTERIS PTEROIDES?

The same with No. 8 from the Tarentaise ; but the species is very
doubtful.

9. CALAMITES ?

Very probably one of the forms of C. Suckowii, but the species
cannot be determined.

10. ASTEROPHYLLITES 2

Apparently identical with No. 12 of the preceding list. It can
hardly be distinguished from some of the specimens from the coal-
field of Cape Breton, which I have taken for Asterophyllites foliosa.

2. On the Geology of the neighbourhood of Ovorto, including the

Silurian Coal and Slates of Vattonco. By Danieu SHARPE,
Esq.,. F.G.S.

On the 11th of April, 1832*, I laid before the Society a short notice
of the rocks of which the following is a more detailed account : since
that period I am not aware that anything more has been published
respecting them ; but the recent discovery of shells and trilobites in
the Vallongo slates has given a fresh interest to the subject.

(A.) C€rystalline Rocks near Oporto.

The town of Oporto stands on a band of granite four or five miles
wide, which forms the axis of the neighbouring rocks, with a general
direction of about N.N.W.; it is enclosed on each side by a belt of
brown micaceous schist with quartz veins, to which succeeds on each
side a line of granitic gneiss alternating with and passing into mica-
ceous and chloritic schists, which are overlaid both to the north-east
and south-west of the district of crystalline rocks by clay-slates of
sedimentary origin. In some places granite is found (as at San
Cosme and elsewhere) in the place of the gneiss, and there are, on the

* Proceedings of the Geological Society, vol, i. p. 395.

143

SHARPE ON THE GEOLOGY OF OPORTO.

1848. ]

Fig. 1. Map of the district North of Oporto.

: ‘aUIIS
‘ a ee
a
‘QUOJSPULS
e
*aqeys-AvlO
‘T8200
*4SIYOS SNODDVOTAT
SNS = P *SS10UN)
opel)

Vey
Nt ari
«ey

“4STYOS SNODIVITIAL
*ssTOUN)

Ss a
* . .
a) 33
r 2 33
5 | ae QAO
2 or a ‘oo n ‘
DM . . . . 5 ®
apse 8 % Bigs oR 8 5 §
, SS = os 3 3 =
. S38 a o Aas oO t=
o 238 Me nD ro} 8 ima
= 2A oS n ids) = =
[~} 23 ~ 3 —
a tym a NS
3 ke. g
=|
g By AS §
=

144 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Noy. 29,

south of Oporto near Grijo and Villa da Feira, some peaks of sienite
which interfere with the regularity of the series ; but notwithstanding
these and other irregularities, there is an approach to parallelism in
the position of the various members of this system of crystallme
rocks, the granite of Oporto appearing to be the lowest member, and
to be overlaid on both sides by micaceous schists, gneiss, and micaceous
or chloritic schists. The district to which the above remarks apply
is about twenty miles wide, measuring it from S.W. to N.E., at right
angles to the strike of the rocks.

The foliation both of the schists and the gneiss usually strikes
about N.N.W., that is, parallel to the principal axis ; but it dips in
contrary directions on the two sides of the axis, being usually to the
S.W. on the 8.W. side of the Oporto granite and to the N.E. on the
N.E. side of it; therefore in each case the foliation dips away from
the granite as if in the form of an arch or saddle. On the western
side of Oporto, the space occupied by micaceous schists and gneiss, be-
tween the granite and the Atlantic north of the Douro, is about two
miles wide, so that only a small portion of the western side of the
arch of the cleavage-planes is here seen; but on the eastern side of
the granite the foliation and cleavage dip to the N.E. for a width of
about ten miles, ending with a line of perpendicular cleavage in the
middle of the clay-slates about two miles east of Vallongo: thus the
cleavage and foliation appear to form an irregular arch over the band
of granite, of which the diameter if fully seen would be about twenty-
five miles. Beyond the line of perpendicular cleavage, the cleavage-
planes again dip 8.W. and belong to another elevation. These phee-
nomena coincide in principle with those which I have described in
Wales, Cumberland, and Devonshire; and help to confirm the rule
that the planes of cleavage are arranged in a sort of arch over the
axis of elevation of the rocks of the district.

On both sides of the granitic axis the angles of dip of the foliation
vary from 60° to 80° with much irregularity. In the gneiss the folia-
tion is frequently wavy or even violently curved ; but viewed on a
large scale, its direction is parallel to that of the foliation of the
schists.

Most of the quartz ves in the micaceous schists are parallel to
the foliation of the schists ; and where the mineral character of the
schists varies, the line of change is usually parallel to their foliation.

Where the sedimentary slates rest on the crystalline schists at the
edges of the district of igneous rocks, the cleavage of the slates is
parallel to the foliation of the schists.

Thus we find a general approach to parallelism in the foliation of
the crystalline rocks, in the direction of the majority of the quartz veins,
in the line of change in the minor mineral characters of the schists,
and in the cleavage of the sedimentary slates, the whole of which cor-
respond in strike with the line of the granitic axis of elevation of the
district. A similar parallelism has been pointed out by Mr. Darwin
in various parts of South America, between the planes of foliation of
the gneiss and mica schists and the planes of cleavage of the slates*.

* Darwin, Geological Observations on South America, chap. 6.

1848. | SHARPE ON THE GEOLOGY OF OPORTO.

(B.) Lower Silurian Formation.

The series of crystalline rocks
just described is overlaid on its
eastern flank by a band of rocks of
sedimentary origin, of which clay-
slate is the prinetpal feature. This
band of slatescommences northward
on the coast near Esposende, about
thirty miles north of Oporto, from
which place it runs to the S.S.E.,
meeting the Douro at Jeremunde,
about twelve miles above Oporto ;
here it crosses the Douro and con-
tinues to the southward, where I
have not followed it.

On the north of the Douro the
band in question varies from four
to eight miles wide, being bounded
eastward by granite and sienite,
which form the greater part of the
province of Entre Minho e Douro.
The most interesting part of its
course is to the south of Vallongo,
from which place to the Douro the
slates overlie a carbonaceous de-
posit containing several beds of
anthracite, which have long been
worked at the village of San Pedro
de Cova, about eight miles E.N.E.
of Oporto, and two miles 8.S8.W. of
Vallongo, and five miles north of
the Douro.

(a.) Vallongo Section.

The slate formation is developed
on a larger scale at this part than
it is farther to the north : the Ama-
rante road traverses the formation

from its eastern boundary near ,;

Baltar, where it abuts against sie-
nite, and crosses the beds in a de-
scending order from E.N.E. to
W.S.W.: this is nearly the line of
this section, fig. 2. The series is as
follows in descending order :—

1. Micaceous sandstone usually
of a yellowish colour, with some
beds near its base of grey carbona-
ceous sandstone ; usual dip E.N.E.

Fig. 2. Section from the mouth of the Douro to Barrar (15 miles).

Gneiss. |**

Micaceous schist. |S

*oyIUBID

Micaceous schist.

Gneiss. |=)

Micaceous schist. |

Chloritic schist.
Coal. E

Carbonaceous “S
shales and Ferns.

sandstones.

Orthis, Trilobites, &c. A Vallongo.

Nc) Ferreira,

Carbonaceous
shales, &c. #

*‘auo}spuRs

‘azUAIS
= TF

145

22. San Pedro
da Cova.

“ANS

146 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Nov. 29,

at a high angle; the lower beds dip in that direction 60°. This
series is of great thickness.

2. Black carbonaceous slate lying conformably below the micaceous
sandstone and alternating with dark clay-slate; with the exception
of some local undulations the beds dip N.E. 60° to 70°, and the
cleavage of the beds of slate dips N.K. 70° to 80°. Among the
shales are numerous beds three to six inches thick of indurated fer-
ruginous clay passing into clay iron-stone. The appearance of these
carbonaceous shales accompanied by clay iron-stone is exactly that of
the shales of our coal-fields. Several small trials have been made for
coal among the black shales, but none has been found. This series
is of considerable thickness.

3. Clay-slate, usually dark grey or black, and hard, but occasion-
ally soft, chloritic, and of a pink or yellow colour. The upper beds
of slate lie conformably under the carbonaceous shale, dippmg N.E.
60°, with a cleavage which dips N.E. 80°; a little farther westward
the same beds dip W. 30°S. 25°, the cleavage dipping W. 30° S. 65°;
this dip continues to Ponte Ferreira, west of which the slates regain
their usual direction, dipping 8.E. 45°, and the cleavage S.W. 80°.
About 1} mile east of Vallongo the cleavage is perpendicular with
a strike of N. 30° W., which is the mean direction of the strike of
the beds and cleavage-planes: the slate at this spot is of a light
colour and contains chlorite. Thence to Vallongo is a hard dark
roofing-slate of the finest quality, dip N.E. 45°, dip of the cleavage
N.E. 60° to 70°. These slates are extensively quarried near Vallongo
for slabs and flags, but have not yet been applied to roofing, which
throughout Portugal is made of tiles. The lowest beds of this series
are soft, of light colours and chloritic. The thickness of the slate
series must be very considerable, but owing to several undulations of
the beds it is difficult to estimate it. The lower beds of the dark
grey slate, and all the beds of the lighter soft slates at the base of
the series, are rich in organic remains, which I collected to the north,
south, and west of Vallongo ; but I found none to the eastward of
that village, nor in any of the beds above the fine roofing-slate. Most
of these fossils are of new species, but they are all of forms common
in the Lower Silurian rocks of the north of Europe, and all the known
species among them belong to the Lower Silurian formation.

The following species were found :—

Calymene Tristani, Brongniart, Tril. pl. 1. fig. 2.
—, another species ; specimens imperfect.
Ogygia Guettardi, Brongniart, Tril. pl. 3. fig. 1.
Isotelus Powisii, Portlock, Londond. pl. 6. fig. 1.
Illenus Lusitanicus, un. s.

Chirurus ; fragments of an undescribed species.
Beyrichia or Cythere ; a small species, abundant.
Orthis Noctilio, n.s.

Miniensis, n.s.

Duriensis, n. s.

LTusitanica, n. s.

, fragments of several other species.

1848. | SHARPE ON THE GEOLOGY OF OPORTO. 147

Orthoceras remotum, Salter, MSS.

, a fragment, 24 inches in diameter.
Bellerophon Duriensis, n. s.

Graptolithus Murchisoni ’, Sil. Syst. pl. 26. fig. 4.

Besides the above, I saw many shells and trilobites too imperfect
to be determined ; the fragments of trilobites are very abundant, and
many of them are remarkable for their size; one crushed specimen
measures seven inches across the body. Many impressions of the
tails of trilobites were seen between six and nine inches across, but
all much distorted.

Mr. Salter has had the kindness to assist me in determining the
species of the trilobites; and Mr. Morris has helped to fix the spe-
cific characters of the shells.

4, Carboniferous series of San Pedro de Cova: this series of beds
lies conformably under the slate series just described, and the passage
from the one set of beds to the other is gradual; the following are
the details, viz. :—

a. Red sandstone, dip E.N.E.1N. 45°; several hundred feet thick,
with alternations of dark carbonaceous beds in the lower part.

6. Coarse conglomerates of different characters alternating with
black carbonaceous shales: some of the conglomerates are quartzose
and micaceous, others grey with a good deal of carbon ; the whole
many hundred feet thick*.

c. Coal; about six feet thick.

d. Coarse micaceous conglomerate alternating with black carbo-
naceous shale.

e. Coal; too thin to be worked.

Jf. Coarse carbonaceous conglomerate.

g- Coal; four beds from two to five feet thick, varying in thick-
ness in different spots, and separated by three or four feet of black
shale. These beds are all worked from the same galleries, and
furnish at present the principal supply of coal. They rest on black
shale.

h. Shales containing chlorite, resembling in colour the chloritic
schists on which they rest, and from the debris of which they have
evidently been formed.

The carbonaceous series No. 4 is probably between 1000 and

* Both in the shales and sandstones impressions of vegetable remains are found,
but usually in bad preservation. Mr. Charles J. F. Bunbury has had the kindness
to examine the specimens, and finds in them “ indications of three species of ferns,
all in bad preservation and very indistinct; the best-preserved specimen is in fruc-
tification, and seems to have a strong resemblance to Pecopteris Cyathea, which is
a common fern of the coal-measures. Another is extremely indistinct, but reminds
us in some degree of Pecopteris muricata. The third resembles Neuropteris
fenuifolia in the form of its leaflets; but the total obliteration of the veins makes
it impossible to pronounce upon it with any approach to confidence.” It thus
appears from the note with which Mr. Bunbury has favoured me, that there are in
the carboniferous beds at Vallongo several ferns with strong resemblance to certain
species known in the coal-measures. Now that attention has been drawn to a cir-
cumstance of so much interest, it is to be expected that before long specimens may
be brought to light which will show whether the same species of plant existed at
two periods so remote from one another.

148 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. | Nov. 29,

1500 feet thick : it rests on the crystalline chloritic schists described
at the beginning of the paper (p. 144). The dip of all the beds of the
carbonaceous series at San Pedro de Cova is E.N.E. $ N. 45°, which
corresponds with the dip of the fossiliferous slates of Vallongo ; the
country between the two places is a rough mountainous district, with
little vegetation ; the outcrop of the beds is seen everywhere, and their
relative position does not admit of doubt.

The coal is worked by inclined shafts which follow the dip of the
beds, the deepest of which in 1844 was about 600 feet ; at that time
I was informed that about 4500 tons of coal were raised annually,
which are consumed principally in Oporto. The prices at the pit’s
mouth were then about equal to 6s. 3d., 15s. and 25s. per ton for the
three qualities into which it is sorted: the carriage by land to Oporto
costs about 6s. 3d. per ton.

The coal is an anthracite of very pure quality, containing very little
bituminous matter.

The same beds of coal have been opened on a smaller scale on the
north bank of the Douro at Jeremunde, about twelve miles above
Oporto, and they have been traced from that spot to San Pedro de
Cova, but they are nowhere so thick as at the latter place. North
of San Pedro de Cova this whole carboniferous series thins away very
rapidly, and the beds die out completely about a mile and a half
north of that place, thinning off against the crystalline rocks of the
Serra de Vallongo, which there project considerably to the eastward
of their principal line. Where the Oporto road crosses the Serra de
Vallongo, the fossiliferous clay-slates of Vallongo, No. 3, rest imme-
diately on the crystalline micaceous and chloritic schists ; and, as far
as I observed, the same is the case along the whole course of the for-
mation to the northward of Vallongo. It appears that the carboni-
ferous series No. 4 is a very local deposit, only found to the south-
ward of the road from Oporto to Vallongo, and which attained an
unusual development, under some peculiarly favourable circumstances,
in a deep bay left in the granitic cham near San Pedro de Cova. It
would be interesting to trace out the course and character of the
coal-beds on the south of the Douro, but this I believe has never
been done.

(b.) Section along the Braga road.

The slate formation is developed on a smaller scale to the north-
ward of Vallongo. Where it is crossed by the road from Braga to
Oporto, the following series of beds is exposed in descending order :—
Sienite reaching to two miles south of Villa Nova de Famelicao ; then,

1. Coarse red micaceous sandstone, which becomes more and more
slaty in the lower beds.

2. Black carbonaceous shale, with some beds of coarse grit and
also of clay iron-stone : nearly perpendicular with a strike of N.N.W.
The spot where the road crosses these beds is called Terra Negra.

3. The above pass into a soft grey clay-slate, cleavage perpendicular,
striking N.N.W., followed by soft slates of various light colours, with
some alternations of slaty sandstone and of indurated ferruginous

1848. | SHARPE ON THE GEOLOGY OF OPORTO. 149

clay. These beds reach to the banks of the river Ave at Barco da
Trofa, where they rest on a soft chloritic slate; strike N.N.W.: a
little south of Venda da Serra this rests on granite.

(c.) The section crossed by the road from Vianna to Oporto pre-
sents the same features as the above. It appears that throughout the
whole course of the formation the three upper divisions of the forma-
tion, sandstone, carbonaceous shale and clay-slate, are everywhere to
be distinguished ; but that the lower carbonaceous division is not to
be found north of Vallongo. There is everywhere to be seen a
gradual passage between the beds of the different divisions, which
leaves no doubt that the whole are to be regarded as subordinate
parts of one formation. And the great similarity in mineral cha-
racter between the black carbonaceous shales No. 2, in the middle of
the formation, with the beds associated with the coal in the lowest
division No. 4, farther connects the whole together.

(C.) Road from Oporto to Aveiro.

A similar series of Silurian rocks is seen about thirty miles to the
south of the Douro, on the road from Oporto to Aveiro: after leaving
the granite of Oporto the road crosses brown micaceous and argilla-
ceous schists, the foliation of which strikes N.W., and dips 8.W. 80°.

Granite, with occasional peaks of sienite.

Gneiss ; dip of the foliation S.W. 30°.

Micaceous schists alternating with gneiss; dip of foliation S.S.W.
from 60° to 80°.

Sienite at Villa da Feira.

Micaceous and chloritic schists strikmg W.N.W., which continue
to Ovar, beyond which place the Silurian slates are seen in the follow-
ing ascending series :—

3. Clay-slate, strike N., dip of cleavage E. 80° varying to 8.E. 80°,
of considerable thickness.

2. Carbonaceous shale which lies over the preceding near Estareja,
and alternates with red slaty sandstone, dip S.E. 60°, dip of cleavage
S.E. 80°.

1. Red slaty sandstone.

Beyond Angeja these beds are covered up by a thick deposit of
coarse gravel which conceals the strata over the great plain round
Aveiro.

From the direction taken by the Silurian slates, they ought to cross
the high road from Oporto to Coimbra near the banks of the Vouga ;
but beyond the southern termination of the micaceous schists near
Albergaria Nova, the whole country is completely covered with gravel,
which reaches to a red sandstone seen on the banks of the Vouga
near Sardao; so that we are left in doubt whether the slates are con-
tinued in this direction.

The red sandstone of Sardao is a fine-grained freestone in thin
beds separated by partings of red marl, resembling the new red sand-
stone of our Midland counties ; it dips S.E. 5°, and is overlaid to the
southward by sands which belong either to the oolitic or cretaceous

150 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. | Nov. 29,

period. We have no clear guide to the age of the Sardao red sand-
stone ; but from its mineral character and horizontal position, I re-
gard it as of secondary origin, and do not connect it with the Silurian
formation of Ovar and Estareja.

I have here described the only beds referable to the Silurian
system which fell under my own observation in Portugal ; but rocks
resembling in mineral character the clay-slates and sandstones of the
Vallongo section have been described by Dr. Rebello de Carvalho as
forming the high chain of the Serra de Marao near Amarante, and
covering the whole of the celebrated wine-district of the Upper Douro,
in which all the fine port wimes are produced upon the slates; the
Ime of the granitic boundary being the exact limit to the cultivation
of the finer qualities of wine*.

Similar clay-slates and roofing-slates, accompanied by slaty sand-
stones, cover the eastern side of Gallicia according to Schulz+, and
are stated by Link to form the greater part of the province of Traz os
Montes, both flanks of the great granite chain of the Serra de Es-
trella, and a great part of the district enclosed between the Zezere
and the frontier of Spaint: and we find similar rocks described in
Spanish Estramadura by Le Play§. No one has yet ascertained the
exact geological age of these rocks; but on comparing the descrip-
tions given of their position and mineral characters with those of the
now-ascertained Silurian formation of Vallongo, it becomes highly
probable that future observers will find the Silurian system largely
developed throughout these parts of the Peninsula.

Description of the Organic Remains.
IsoteLus Powrisi1? (Portlock, Londonderry, &c. pl. 6. fig. 1).

The specimen consists of the tail and a portion of the last joint of
the body, and is not enough to determine the species with certainty.
It differs from the specimen figured as dsaphus Powisii in the ‘ Silu-
rian System,’ pl. 23. fig. 9, but agrees well with Captain Portlock’s
figure ; if the latter prove a distinct species, the Portuguese trilobite
must be classed with it.

Found in slate at Vallongo near Oporto.

ILL2aNvus LUSITANICUS, n. s.

Glabella broad anteriorly and contracted posteriorly ; very convex.
Eyes placed nearer the back than the front of the head, about one-
third of the length of the head from the back.

Body of ten rings divided into three nearly equal parts by two deep
furrows ; the central portion very convex.

* Consideragoes geraes sobre a constituicao do Alto-Douro. By Jozé Pinto
Rebello de Carvalho. 1848.

+ Descripcion Geognostica del Reino de Galicia por Don G. Schulz. 1835.

t Geologische und Mineralogische Bemerkungen auf einer Reise durch das
sudwestliche Europa, besorders Portugal. Von H. F. Link. 1801.

§ Observations sur ]’Estramadure et la Nord de!’Andalusie. F. Le Play. Annales
des Mines, 3™° série, vol. vi. p. 297, and pl. 6. 1834.

Quart. Geol. Journ.VNolN. Pt V7.

fiom the Powe Silurian Hales Oi YL along ee

1. Lllenus Lusitanicus. 4. Orthis Durtensis

2. Orthis Noetilo. 5. Orthis Lusttanica
3. Orthis Mintensts. 6. Orthoceras vagans

J.De C.S. fecit

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1848. | SHARPE ON THE GEOLOGY OF OPORTO. 151

Tail convex, very broad, considerably wider than the head, and
projecting far beyond the sides of the head when the animal is rolled
up ; its anterior margin lobed, with a waved outline ; furrows marking
the axis very faint ; axis very small; its length equal to about one-
third, and its breadth only equal to two-sevenths of that of the tail.

Length of the animal about 3 inches.

Head: length 1 inch; greatest breadth 14 inch.

Tail: length 14 inch; greatest breadth 1} inch.

Found in slate at Vallongo.

Unfortunately the head of the specimen has been crushed in at the
sides, which makes it doubtful how far the triangular outline it now
presents is natural; and the general condition of the specimen does
not admit of a good description of the species.

The most marked peculiarity seen is the great breadth of the tail,
both compared to the head and to its own axis, which occupies little
more than one-fourth of the breadth of the tail.

The I. giganteus of the Angers slates, Burm. t. 3. f. 10, is the
only described species to which this can possibly be related, having
the same narrow caudal axis; but the Portuguese trilobite has a far
broader tail than is shown in the only figure yet published of that
species. Unfortunately the I. giganteus is so little known and so
slightly figured, that we have not the means of any certain comparison
with it.

Fig. 1 a. Pl. VI. head and part of the body.

Fig. 1 6. Pl. VI. tail of the same specimen.

Ortuis NocrTILio, n. sp.

Shell nearly flat ; outline semi-ovate with sides nearly straight ;
length about two-thirds of the width ; thickness inconsiderable.

Dorsal valve slightly convex, with an elevated mesial ridge.

Ventral valve nearly flat, with a mesial furrow corresponding to the
ridge of the dorsal valve.

Hinge-areas narrow, slightly produced beyond the sides of the
shell.

Surface covered with fine concentric lines, and ornamented with
narrow unequal ribs which bifurcate several times, being about 15 in
number near the hinge, 50 at the middle of the valve, and between
60 and 70 at the margin.

Interstices wider than the ribs.

Interior margins of the valves strongly crenated.

Length 1} inch ; width at the hinge 21 inches.

Found in slate near Vallongo.

The elevated ridge on the dorsal valve connects this species with
the O. bilobata, Sow., and O. vespertilio, Sow., which are found in the
Lower Silurian rocks of this country: it is distinguished from both
those shells by coarser, simpler and less numerous ribs.

Fig. 2 a. Pl. VI. Ventral valve, from the cast of adistorted specimen.

Fig. 2 6. Ventral valve ; interior of the same specimen.

Fig. 2 ¢. Interior of dorsal valve.

152 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Nov. 29,

Ortuis MINIENSIS, n. sp.

Shell rather flat; outline nearly semicircular, with the greatest
width at the hinge.

Dorsal valve moderately convex, with a slight mesial elevation.

Ventral valve flat, with a faint mesial depression.

Valves covered with well-marked concentric lines and ornamented
with 20 to 30 narrow rounded simple ribs, reaching from the hinge-
area to the margin, and separated by broad flat interstices. At the
middle of each valve short narrower ribs are inserted between the
others, giving that part a more crowded appearance than the sides of
the shell: these intermediate ribs vary from 4 to 8.

Length 2 of an inch; width 1+ inch.

Found in slate near Vallongo.

Fig. 3a. Pl. VI. Dorsal valve, from the cast of a fragment in which
the shell is rendered narrower by compression.

Fig. 36. Dorsal valve, from a cast : im this specimen the width of
the shell is exaggerated.

OrtuHis DURIENSIS, n. sp.

Shell concavo-convex ; outline nearly semicircular ; greatest width
close below the hinge.

Ventral valve slightly concave, with a broad, shallow mesial sinus ;
ornamented with about 50 delicate, slightly raised ribs, all reaching
from the hinge to the margin, and separated by wide interstices. Be-
fore they reach the middle of the valve a narrow furrow is impressed
upon each rib, this grows a little wider and deeper, and finally divides
the rib into two faint rays, which run on together to the margin,
which they reach in regular pairs. Hinge-area very narrow.

Dorsal valve ; hinge-area broad and longitudinally striated. An-
other specimen, which appears to be the dorsal valve of this species,
is regularly convex, without any mesial elevation.

Length + of an inch ; width 12 inch.

Found in slate at Vallongo.

Fig. 4 a. Ventral valve, from a cast.

Fig. 4 6. Ribs of the same specimen magnified.

Ortuis LusITANICA, 0. sp.

Shell concavo-convex ; outline rather exceeding a semicircle, with
the angles at the end of the hinge-line rounded off; greatest width
a little below the hinge.

Dorsal valve regularly convex, the greatest elevation being about
the middle of the valve ; hinge-area twice the breadth of that of the
ventral valve.

Ventral valve somewhat concave ; hinge-area narrow.

Valves covered with fine concentric lines, and ornamented with 24
to 30 narrow rounded simple equal ribs, all reaching from the hinge-
line to the margin, and separated by broad flattened interstices.

Length 4 of an inch; width at the hinge 11 inch; greatest width
13 inch.

1848. | SHARPE ON THE GEOLOGY OF OPORTO. 153

Fig. 5a. Dorsal valve.

Fig. 54. Impression of ventral valve.

The present shell is distinguished from all the published Lower
Silurian species of Orthis having simple ribs by the concavity of its
ventral valve. This is a rare character in the genus, and connects it
with O. semicircularis, Eichw. and O. carinata, Conrad, Ann. Rep.
1839, p. 64. Nevertheless I do not feel sure that this may not ulti-
mately prove a variety of O. callactis, Dalm., a species which unfortu-
nately has never been published with sufficient detail.

ORTHOCERAS VAGANS, Salter, MSS.

Smooth ; long tapering when young, more conical when old: septa

broad elliptical, oblique on the longer axis, moderately distant in the
young shell, distant by more than the diameter in mid-age, and by
less than one-fourth of the diameter when old, deep cup-shaped ;
siphuncle nearly central.
_ This species differs from O. distans, Sow., in its smaller size, and in
the more central position of the siphuncle. O. interruptus, Munster,
is most like our species, but the septa grow more distant with age and
are more oblique, and it has a slight swelling of the shell between the
septa.

"This species is abundant in the Lower Silurian rocks of Wales and
Westmoreland. J. W. SALTER.

Found in slate at Vallongo near Oporto.

Fig. 6a. A young specimen.

Fig. 6 6. One septum of an older shell.

BELLEROPHON DURIENSIS, 0. sp.

Shell nearly globose, umbilicated, smooth ; aperture two-lobed,
divided in front by a deep angular sinus; the lobes produced, their
outline nearly triangular with the apex rounded off.

Diameter about 1 inch.

Found in slate at Vallongo.

This shell nearly resembles the B. d¢lobatus, Sow., from which it
differs in the angular form of the sinus, and the triangular outline of
the lobes of the aperture which are bounded by two lines nearly
straight, and only rounded at their extremities. It is also closely
allied to B. elongatus, Portl. pl. 29. fig. 4.

DONATIONS

TO THE

LIBRARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

November \st to December 31st, 1848.

I. TRANSACTIONS AND JOURNALS.
Presented by the respective Societies and Editors.

AmeERICAN Journal of Science. Second Series, vol. vi. nos. 17 and 18.

Annales des Mines. Quatriéme Série, Tome xii. liv. 5 and 6; and
tome xill. liv. 1 and 2.

Athenzeum Journal, November and December 1848.
Boston Society of Natural History, Journal. Vol. v. No. 4.
China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Transactions, 1847.

France, Société Géologique de, Bulletin. Deux. Série, tome iv.
feuilles 4-78, and tome v. feuilles 9-28.

, Bulletin. Deux. Série, tome il. feuilles 23-30. From
J. POPratt, £sq:, FG.S:

Indian Archipelago, Journal of the. Vol. 1. No. 9.
Irish Academy (Royal), Proceedings. Vol. il. part 3, and vol. iv.

part 1.

Liverpool, Literary and Philosophical Society of, Proceedings.
No. 4, 1848.

Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences of, Proceedings. Vol. iv.
no. 4

Philosophical Magazine. From R. Taylor, Esq., F.G.S.
Tyneside Naturalists’ Field Club, Transactions. Vol. i. parts 1 and 2.

DONATIONS. 155

If. GEOLOGICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS.
Names in italics presented by the Authors.

Bartin, Frangois-Xavier, Oryctographie de Bruxelles, ou Descrip-
tion des Fossiles tant naturels qu’accidentels découverts jusqu’a
ce jour dans les environs de cette ville. From G. B. Green-
ough, Lsq., V.P.G.S.

D’ Archiac, A. Histoire des Progrés de la Géologie de 1834 a 1835,
tome il. part 1.

Davidson, T. Mémoire sur les Brachiopodes du Systéme Silurien
Supérieur d’ Angleterre.

Dillwyn, L. W. Materials for a Fauna and Flora of Swansea.

Dufrénoy et Elie de Beaumont. Explication de la Carte Géologique
de la France, tome il.

Elie de Beaumont, L. Note sur les Systtmes de Montagnes les plus
anciens de l Europe.

Gippert, Prof. Uebersicht der Arbeiten und Veranderungen der
Schlesischen Gesellschaft fur vaterlindische Kultur im Jahre
1847,

Gygax, Dr Report on the Geologi cal Formation of the Island of
Ceylon. From the Right Honourable Earl Grey.

Joly, N., et Leymerie. Mémoire sur les Nummulites.

Portlock, Lt.-Col. Aide-Mémoire to the Military Sciences. Part 1,
vol. il. :

Richardson, Joshua. On the Prevention of Accidents in Mines.

Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang during the years
1843-1846. Nos. 1,2 &3. From Messrs. Reeve.

VOL. V.——PART I. M

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THE

QUARTERLY JOURNAL

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

DrECEMBER 13, 1848.

Thomas Josiah Lang, Esq., and Charles Brumell, Esq., were elected
Fellows of the Society.

The first part of the following communication* was read :—

1. On the Geological Structure of the ALes, APENNINES and CarR-
PATHIANS, more especially to prove a transition from Secondary
to Tertiary rocks, and the development of Eocene deposits in
SouTHERN Evurorre. By Sir Roprericx Impey Mourcuison,
F.R.S. G.S. L.S., Hon. Mem. R.S. Ed., R.I. Ac., Mem. Imp. Ac.
Se. St. Pet., Corr. Mem. Ac. France, Berlin, Turin, &c. &c.

INTRODUCTION.

THE numerous mineral distinctions of the various rocks composing
the Alps, and their separation into more or less crystalline masses,
were the chief objects of the researches of the illustrious De Saus-
sure; and some time elapsed before it was thought possible to bring
these mountains into anything like a comparison with the sedimen-
tary deposits of other parts of Europe, the determination of which

* Part second was read on January 17, 1849.
VOL. V.——PART I. N

158 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

had been established by their normal order of position and their
imbedded organic remains. As soon however as Brochant (1808)
declared his belief, that large crystalline masses of the Central and
Savoy Alps, which had previously been considered of primary age,
belonged to the earlier sedimentary or transition period, a new field
of research was prepared; and Dr. Buckland made a still more
important step, in a very able essay, wherein he boldly synchronized,
in a general manner, the so-called transition rocks of Brochant, with
our secondary British types*. Stimulated by such examples, and
also by the researches of Brongniart, Von Buch, EK. de Beaumont,
Boué, Lill von Lilienstein and others, Professor Sedgwick and my-
self published our views in a memoir in the Transactions of the Geo-
logical Society+, accompanied by a general geological map of the’
Eastern Alps. Since that period, however, much progress having
been made, by applying to this chain the more accurate knowledge of
the order of equivalent formations, I had the strongest desire to
revisit my old ground, to compare it with those regions of the Alps
formerly unexplored by me, yet rendered classic by the discoveries of
my contemporaries, and to correct any erroneous views I might have
entertained. The great stimulus to my researches was, however, that
I could not reconcile some of the phenomena I had formerly seen
with the view of succession adopted in nearly every work and map of
modern times, which represent the so-called cretaceous deposits of
the Alps and Italy as being succeeded at once by the younger tertiary
strata, almost to the entire exclusion of the eocene or older tertiary.
One small tract only (the Vicentine) was supposed by some authors
to be of lower tertiary age, whilst others even classed it with the chalk.
I felt as certain as when we wrote our memoir, that however Professor
Sedgwick and myself might have erred in regard to the age of the
Gosau deposits, there were still good evidences of the transition from
secondary to tertiary on which we had insisted, and which could not
be put aside nor overlooked. For example, I was convinced, that
there could be no mistake in the sections on the flank of the Venetian
Alps near Bassano, which I presented to this Society before I ex-
plored the Austrian Alps,—sections that pomted out in the clearest
manner the passage from the surface of the chalk into the oldest
tertiary strata, and from them into newer deposits with subapennine

* See Annals of Philosophy, an. 1821, vol. xvii. p. 450. It is also but justice to
the late Mr. Bakewell, to state that in examining the Alps of Savoy and the Taren-
taise in the same summer as Dr. Buckland, he arrived at a similar conclusion
(see Travels in the Tarentaise and various parts of Grecian and Pennine Alps,
vol. ii. p. 410). In relation to my own researches I may now state, that in the
year 1829 I went along the Maritime Alps, and afterwards, by Turin, to the Vicen-
tine, with Sir C. Lyell. In the autumn of the same year I made the Bassano sec-
tion and traversed the Tyrolese Alps. In 1829 Professor Sedgwick and myself
examined the Eastern Alps, Styria and Illyria. In 1830 I returned alone to the
Eastern Alps, and did not revisit them until 1847. In 1843 I made an excursion
from Cracow to the Carpathian chain with Professor Zeuschner, and in the years
1847 and 1848 I was chiefly occupied in collecting data for this memoir.

+ Vol. iii. Second Series, p. 301; and Phil. Mag. and Ann. of Phil. N.S. vol. viii.
Aug. 1830.

1848.| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 159

shells*, These indisputable data were in fact the groundwork of the
opinion afterwards applied to the Austrian Alps in natural sections,
amidst some of the interior valleys, as well as upon their northern
flank. Again, it was impossible to consider the shelly deposits of
the Vicentine in any other light than older tertiary deposits, as laid
down by Brongniart; and if they were of that age,*they must, we
argued, have equivalents in other parts of the Alps. In relation,
even, to the deposits of Gosau, we then recognized, that their lower
shelly beds were cretaceous by their fossils; but influenced both by
the presence of an overwhelming quantity of associated gasteropoda,
which usually abound in tertiary deposits (said to be of that age by
conchologists), and also by the facies of the soft and incoherent de-
posits, which were so strikingly contrasted with the subcrystalline
secondary rocks on which they reposed, we concluded that the upper
shelly portion of the group also represented a transition from cre-
taceous to supracretaceous rocks, analogous to that seen on the
flank of the Venetian Alps. My last visit to Gosau in 1847+ has
convinced me that my former view must be abandoned. I now believe
that the marly and earthy fossiliferous beds of that valley are the
equivalents of the gault, upper greensand and lower chalk. But if the
shelly portion of the Gosau deposits proved to be cretaceous, the
sections of Bassano and Asolo remained, as well as those of Unters-
berg and Kressenberg, to establish the existence of other and superior
strata. And even when I say, that the Gosau deposits are essentially
eretaceous by their fossils, 1 must guard against the inference that
the overlying sandstones and schists of that valley are also of that
age. The principal change of classification I have to make, is in respect
to the comparison formerly suggested (though then not without con-
siderable doubt), that the great band of green sandstones, impure lime-
stones, and calcareous shale, &c. which occupy the external zone of the
north-eastern Alps under the name of ‘‘ Flysch”’ or Vienna sandstone,
was the representative of the greensand and chalk of England and
France. It is needless now to explain all the reasons for having em-
braced an opinion, which my colleague and self shared in common
with other geologists of that day. In the absence of fossils, we could
not, indeed, avoid being somewhat guided by mineral characters, par-
ticularly in the Eastern Alps, where the whole of this green sand-
stone zone abruptly succeeds to masses of what was then termed the
** Alpine Limestone,” the higher portion of which was considered by
our precursors to represent the Upper Jura.

Once impressed with the conviction that the great greensand group
succeeding to the supposed jurassic rocks was cretaceous, and finding
nummulites associated with it, we naturally concluded that these

* See Phil. Mag. and Annals, with coloured sections, June 1829, and Proceed.
Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. i. p. 137.

+ On this occasion I was accompanied by M. de Verneuil.

t M. Boué argued that the fossil beds of Gosau were of the age of the lower
greensand, whilst my colleague and self considered that these beds were both
eretaceous and lower tertiary. M. Boué, as well as myself, now considers the
uummulitic and flysch rocks as supracretaceous,

N 2

160 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. { Dec. 13,

fossils were connected with both the older tertiary and the younger
secondary deposits; an opinion from which I entirely recede. I
am now persuaded that no form of the genus Nummulina (D’Orb.)
occurs in the Alps in beds below the surface of the chalk, or its
equivalent. Geologists must recollect, however, that at the period
when we wrote, ‘the development of the lower portion of the cretaceous
system in Southern Europe had not even been commenced. The
Neocomian formation was unknown, and no one dreamt that the thick
outer coat of the subcrystalline alpine limestone, then considered to be
of the age of the upper oolite, would prove to be the equivalent of the
slightly coherent beds of sand and shale known as English ‘‘ Lower
Greensand |”? The few secondary fossils we could then detect, in any
rocks above strata containing liassic and jurassic species, were typical
of the cretaceous epoch, and thus, putting aside dislocations, we sup-
posed that the anomalous group called ‘‘ flysch,’”’ containing so much
greensand, and which as a whole was interpolated between the sup-
posed jurassic rocks and the known tertiary deposits, might be of the
same age as other sandy marls and calcareous bands, often also
charged with green-earth, in which we found cretaceous fossils.
Portions of the deposits of Gosau, as well as those on the northern
flank of the Untersberg, had also to a great extent the characters of
** flysch,’ and hence we supposed that such patches as contained
cretaceous fossils were simply “‘ oases”’ in a great secondary greensand
succession.

I have now satisfied myself, that the great mass of the so-called
flysch is the superior portion of the nummulitic “ Terrain,” and that
the lowest beds with nummulites are completely above all those rocks
which are the equivalents of the white chalk of northern Europe. In
demonstrating this by absolute sections, I will further show, that
between the representative of the chalk and the lowest nummulite
limestone, there are beds, sometimes of considerable dimensions, which,
whether marls, green sandstones, or impure limestone, exhibit that
true transition I formerly insisted on as occurring between the secon-
dary and tertiary rocks of the Alps.

The application of this classification to the Alps, Apennimes and
Carpathians, in all of which similar nummulitic limestones and sand-
stones occur, is loudly called for, seeing the discordant opinions
which prevail respecting such deposits. In the valuable general
map of Von Dechen, for example, the zone which is occupied by the
flysch in the Eastern Alps is placed as the equivalent of the lower
cretaceous rocks, without any representative of the chalk ; and in de-
fining the secondary boundary through Switzerland, the cretaceous
system is omitted, the molasse being represented as in contact with
the jurassic rocks. Yet this is the very region in which a most
copious development of the whole cretaceous system occurs, overlaid
by vast thicknesses of nummulite limestone and flysch. In the same
map the deposits of the Vicentine are classed as lower tertiary, whilst
they are, in truth, a peculiarly shelly portion only, of the same vast
series of the supracretaceous rocks which embraces the nummulite
limestone and flysch.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 161

In Austria a new map of that empire has been published, in which
the flysch of the very zone in question, or a large portion of it, is
represented as Keuper, On the Italian face of the Alps and in the
Apennines, some deposits, that I believe to be the same, are coloured
as cretaceous, and are grouped (in the new map of Collegno) with all
the deposits down to the lower greensand or Neocomian inclusive. This
has been, indeed, the systematic view of most of the continental geolo-
i It has been chiefly adopted in pursuance of the opinions of M.

‘lie de Beaumont and M. Dufrénoy, who have coloured their admirable
map of France on this principle. The conclusion of these authors is
based upon the fact, that the nummulitic group, including the flysch of
the Alps, has undergone all the movements which have affected the
subjacent cretaceous rocks. Fully admitting that such are the phy-
sical relations, I nevertheless contend, that we cannot establish a com-
parative geological chronology between the strata of the north of
Europe and those of the south, if after the evidences about to be
submitted, we do not admit, that the group in question is truly lower
tertiary, inasmuch as it lies above all rocks containing cretaceous or
secondary fossils, is charged with an eocene fauna, and is succeeded in
ascending order by formations filled with younger tertiary shells.

In the first portion of this memoir I give a general description, in
ascending order, of the sedimentary rocks which constitute the whole
chain of the Alps. After describing in succession the paleeozoic and
secondary formations, I point. out the leading changes they have
undergone in their range from the eastern to the western portion of
the chain. The relations of the cretaceous and nummulitic rocks will
then be discussed at greater length, followed by some data on the
age and relations of the younger tertiary deposits of Switzerland ; and
this part will be concluded by descriptions of some of the principal
fractures, inversions and contortions which these sedimentary strata
have undergone.

A short sketch will give my present views of the succession on the
north flank of the Carpathians, and explain the anomalies of the so-
called Carpathian sandstone.

The third part, referring chiefly to Italy and the Apennines, will be
terminated by a review of the organic remains and the order of the
strata which establish the true age of the nummulitic group, not only
in the south of Europe, but also in Egypt, Asia, and those vast regions
of the globe over which it extends. A general resumé concludes the
memoir.

Parr I.

GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS.

It is now eighteen years since Prof. Sedgwick and myself pointed
out that the chain of the Eastern Alps, when considered only in a
general point of view, was of simple structure, in exhibiting a sym-
metrical succession of deposits from a crystalline centre through trans-
ition rocks now termed “ palzeozoic,’”’ flanked by grand secondary

162 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 13,

zones chiefly calcareous, which were externally environed by masses
representing certain members of the tertiary deposits*. We stated,
however, that when the geologist grappled with the detailed features
of this chain, this apparent simplicity usually vanished, chiefly owing
to the great movements of elevation and dislocation which it had un-
dergone, and which frequently caused the younger formations to dip,
or appear to dip, under those of more ancient date. But notwith-
standing these difficulties, we then separated these Alpine rocks into
a series of natural groups, admitting of at least a general comparison
with the principal geological groups of England and other countries.
Now, nearly all the general classification, as given in our Map, is still
correct, and may stand at the present day. The examples, however,
selected as proofs of the cretaceous and supracretaceous relations are
inaccurate in the north-eastern Alps ; and hence, though the legend
or order of colours is on the whole right, its application to parts of
the map must be changed, together with some essential portions of
our reasoning.

Crystalline and Paleozoic Rocks of the Central Axis.—It was in
this great group (to which the term paleeozoic has since been applied)
that we noted the presence of abundance of Encrinites in the talcose
and chloritic limestones of the Tauern Alp. We also specially ad-
verted to the presence of species of British carboniferous Producti in
the old rocks near Bleiberg in Carmthia+. In short, we showed the
existence of those fossils in strata which on the one hand were con-
nected with masses in a crystallme state, and on the other with
younger fossiliferous formations. The glimpse which we then ob-
tained of this phenomenon has been matured imto certain induction
by additional recent discoveries in respect to other and older palzeozoic
stratat. Fossils have been recently discovered by M. Erlach at
Dienten near Werfen in a portion of these transition rocks, which
M. v. Hauer has noticed. On these fossils being shown by that
gentleman to M. de Verneuil and myself when we visited Vienna in
the summer of 1847, we identified one of the forms with the Ortho-
ceras gregarium and another with Cardiola interrupta, both well-
known British Upper Silurian fossils, associated with the Cardium
gracile (Minster), a shell which occurs at Feugerolles m the Silurian
rocks of Normandy.

The limestones of the environs of Gratz, near the eastern extremity
of the chain, contain fossils of Silurian or Devonian age; perhaps of
both formations. Having inspected, in company with M. de Ver-
neuil, a portion of this ground immediately adjacent to the city of
Gratz, particularly as seen in the adjacent hill of Plautsch, it appeared
to us that the mountam, having a chloritic sandy limestone for its
base, passing upwards through sandstone and grits and limestones
of dark grey and reddish colours, with separating courses of chlo-

* Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. ili. New Series, p. 301, and Phil. Mag. and Annals
of Phil. vol. viii. Aug. 1830.

t+ See Phil. Mag. and Annals of Phil. vol. viii. Aug. 1830.

} The exact position of which is indicated in the new geological map of M. A.
Morlot, entitled ‘Geologische Uebersichtskarte der Oesterreichischen Alpen.’

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 163

ritic schist, is capped on the summit by dark grey, white-veined,
fossiliferous limestone, on the surfaces of which many corals weather
out. These corals are, Gorgonia infundibuliformis, Stromatopora
concentrica, Cyathophyllum explanatum, C. turbinatum, C. hexa-
gonum, C. cespitosum, Astrea porosa (Goldf.), Heliopora inter-
stincta (Bronn), Favosites polymorpha (var. ramosa of the Devo-
nian rocks), F. snongites? &c. As most of these polypifers range
from the Upper Silurian into the Devonian, it might be difficult to
class the limestones of Plautsch by reference to them only. The
rock also contains, however, Pecten grandevus (Goldf.), Cyatho-
erinites pinnatus (Goldf.), Inoceramus inversus (Munster), Ortho-
ceras regularis, and Goniatites. We also detected a very striking
large bivalve, which is not only seen in the slabs of the pavement
of Gratz, but which we also found on the summit of the Plautsch,
and which we had at first sight believed to be a Strigocephalus.
A better specimen, however, led us to think it might prove to be
a Pentamerus not remote from the P. Knightii. Until, therefore,
more clear specific forms be found and examined, it is not possible
at once to say whether the paleozoic limestone of Gratz be Lower
Devonian or Upper Silurian. In extending researches from that im-
mediate district to the surrounding country, in which M. Rosthorn
has, I am told, already made discoveries which will soon be com-
municated to the public, Silurian fossils like those of the tract south
of Werfen may also be detected; and as the presence of carbonife-
rous Producti has long been known near Bleiberg in the Carinthian
Alps*, we shall then have the exhibition at imtervals along both
sides of the chief watershed of the Eastern Alps of sufficient reliquize
of the paleeozoic deposits to convince us of the former existence of
considerable masses of sediment of that age. In the meantime, we
have ample data to affirm, that large portions of the tract, coloured
purple to indicate transition rocks on the map of my coadjutor and
self, are occupied by rocks of true paleeozoic age, which in many parts
have passed into a crystalline state.

When, however, the geologist follows these paleeozoic rocks upon
their strike to the W.S.W., he perceives that the action of metamor-
phism has been much more developed in them. Already to the west
of the Gastem Alps and the Grosse Glockner, the masses lying
between the granitic or gneissose centre and the flanking walls of
secondary limestone are found to be chlorite, tale and mica schists,
in none of which have any traces of fossils been yet detected. In
travelling in 1847 through portions of the mineral axis both to the
east and west of the meridian of Innspruck, in company with M.
Leopold von Buch and M. E. de Verneuil, I was forcibly struck with
their great change in mineral succession, as compared with the more
eastern range of the same masses; for chlorite and mica schists,
assuming in parts almost the characters of gneiss, range up to the
secondary limestones with scarcely any place for intermediate strata.

* A collection of the Bleiberg fossils having been shown to M. de Verneuil and

myself at Vienna in 1847, we recognized therein not less than eight or ten species
as belonging to the true carboniferous system of the paleozoic deposits.

164 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

These crystalline schists in the gorge of the Fiinster-Minster Pass are
seen to be permeated by thin courses of brilliantly white dolomite*,
seeming to indicate, that in the great metamorphism to which these
rocks had been subjected, thin courses and veins of limestone which
were subordinate to them, had been transformed into a network of
dolomite.

In following the watershed of the Alps from Austria ito Switzer-
land and thence into the Savoy Alps, it becomes apparent that the
zone of metamorphism widens. Not only is the place of those rocks,
which in their eastern prolongation are paleeozoic, taken by crystalline
masses, but the metamorphismy+ has so extended, if I may thus
speak, laterally from centre to flanks, as to affect in numberless in-
stances the middle and even the younger secondary deposits, and in
one or more tracts, as will be hereafter shown, has even converted
into a crystalline state the strata called flysch, which I now consider
to be of tertiary age.

No vestige of any fossil paleeozoic animal has yet been brought to
light im the Western Alps,—a fact, deed, which accords with the
phzenomenon on which I am insisting, viz. that on the west the Alps
have undergone a more intense degree of metamorphism than on the
east. I shall have occasion to return to the consideration of this
subject in speaking of those rocks of Savoy which contain belemnites
and coal-plants.

In thus briefly touching upon the paleeozoic rocks, in order to
show that they have a distinct and indisputable existence only in the
Eastern Alps, I ought to add that even there no traces have yet been
discovered of the uppermost portion of such palzeozoie series. The
Permian system, so copiously developed in Northern Europe and
especially in Russia, seems, in fact, never to have been deposited in
Southern Europe.

The Trias.—The group, which crops out at various points from
beneath the great mass of secondary limestones of the Eastern Alps,
and is interposed between them and the paleeozoic rocks above-men-
tioned, was correctly placed by Professor Sedgwick and myself in the
parallel of «* Keuper, Muschelkalk and Bunter Sandstein {.”’ For this,

* These veins, though so white on fracture, weather yellow under the atmo-
sphere and the action of water.

tT I have no intention of going into any details respecting the extension of me-
tamorphism from centre to flank in the Swiss and Savoy Alps. I had the great
advantage of making an excursion last summer with M. Studer, who pointed out
to M. P. Merian, M. Favre, and myself, the lateral extension of this phenome-
non in the mountains which encase the glacier of Grindelwald. They have been
called ‘‘ coins” or corners of gneiss, that wedge into and invade the jurassic lime-
stone which they overlap at great altitudes. The appearances conveyed no idea
of wedges of any pre-existing crystalline rock of higher antiquity than the lime-
stone, having been forced into the latter; but on the contrary were plain proofs
to my mind, that an action of metamorphism ramifying laterally had invaded and

altered the jurassic strata in situ.u—See M. Studer’s communication, Bull. Géol.
Fr. vol. iv. p. 209.

~ See the foreign synonyms of the legend attached to our Map. M. Morlot is
in error in attaching to this red zone the name of “ Rothliegendes ?”—for that

rock, which is a part of the Permian system, does not, as already stated, exist in
the Alps.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 165

however, we had no other grounds than that the mass was inferior to

lias, and that besides salt and gypsum, it also contained a bivalve re-
- sembling forms known to us in strata of that age. Recently, how-
ever, this point has been satisfactorily established in respect to the
Alps of the Tyrol, and I will here offer a few evidences of the age
of the formation which fell under my notice in the autumn of 1847,
when I accompanied MM. von Buch and de Verneuil to St. Cassian
and the adjacent tracts, and also when we explored the same series
around Recoaro, north of Vicenza.

The trias of the South Tyrol with which I am acquainted, consists
of a group of sandstones, marls and limestones, the latter rarely in the
state of dolomite, which ranges from E.N.E. to W.S.W., between the
transition and crystalline rocks of the central axis (Brunecken, Brixen,
&c.) on the north, and the great masses of alpine limestone (liassic and
jurassic), which to the south, for the most part in the state of dolo-
mite, range from the Ampezzo Pass to Botzen. This trias is pecu-
liarly well exhibited in the Grodner valley to the east of the great
road between Botzen and Klausen. The portion of this tract which
lies around the little mountain village of St. Cassian*, at the limit of
the German and Italian Tyrol, is that which has afforded the great
variety of fossils first made known to naturalists by Count Minster,
and since described by M. Klipstem. A great number of these
forms being of new and unknown species, considerable doubt hung
over the precise age of the deposit. This obscurity has been prin-
cipally cleared away by an excellent short memoir of M. Emmerich,
who, working out the details of a district rendered classical twenty-
five years ago by the researches of Leopold von Buch, has clearly
exposed the order of the strata, thus leaving little or no doubt, that
the chief and peculiar group of fossils of those Alps belongs to the
trias. Still the subject required confirmation, and M. von Buch being
as desirous as myself of re-examining the tract, I had the good fortune
to accompany him and M. de Verneuil thither. Ascending from the
Eisach Thal at Atzwang, we passed under the grand dolomitic peaks
of the Schlerns mountain, by Seiss and its bosses of melaphyre, to Castel
Ruth. The plateau which there constitutes the base of all the overlying
masses of limestones and marls, is a spotted red and green or true
bunter sandstein, a very good building-stone, with strong courses of
subordinate white sandstone. At St. Michael we examined the col-
lection of fossils made by M. Clara, the venerable clergyman of that
hamlet, in the strata which form slopes beneath the lofty escarpments
of Paflatsch Berg, a promontory of the Seisser-Alp, to the south of his
residence. Among these fossils we at once recognised the well-known
Trigonellites pes-anseris of the muschelkalk (Myaphora or Trigonia)
with many fragments of the stems of the lily encrinite, together with
certain forms of Avicula and Posidonia+, and we were therefore at

* St. Cassian is upwards of 5000 English feet above the sea and near the head of
the transverse valley, whose waters flowing from south to north fall into the Rienz
west of Brunecken.

+ The most remarkable of the Posidoniza has been named by M. Emmerich
P. Clare, after the venerable pastor, who had discovered the 7rigonellites pes-

166 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 13,

once convinced that they had been derived from a band of true mu-
schelkalk. As the fossils were procured from the band of limestone
and shale which surmounts the red sandstone of the plateau upon
which we stood, we had therefore already before us two members of
the trias. In these valleys the muschelkalk is, however, not only
based on red sandstone, but is associated with, and surmounted by red
marls representing the Keuper, as seen in the face of the Mittag’s
Kogel and along various parts of the Schlerns and the Seisser-Alp,
and near St. Ulrich in the Grédner-thal, where the whole of the trias
is further overlaid by other limestones chiefly jurassic.

In proceeding from the Grédner-thal to Colfosco, by St. Christina
through the pass of S Maria, the geologist cannot avoid being
struck with the grand pyramidal and towering peaks of fantastic
shape which the dolomite there assumes in the Lang-Kogel and other
mountains*. The great vertical fissures and joimts which traverse
that rock must not, however, be confounded with the lines of true
bedding, which are often more or less horizontal and undulating only,
and which, though with difficulty observed by an unpractised geo-
logical eye, were visibly delineated before us by wreaths of snow
which fell during an autumnal storm on the peaks and escarpments
around St. Cassian. The pass of Colfosco, which shows clear
sections of muschelkalk on the west, is further remarkable in af-
fording fine examples of buttresses of black porphyry (melaphyre),
which in one situation, west of Colfosco, is observable in absolute
contact with highly dislocated, amorphous, pure white dolomite. I
presume that some of this dolomite is of the age of the muschelkalk,
because it is associated with certain beds of triassic grit called by M.
Emmerich “ Halobian sandstein.’’ In descending the valley from
St. Cassian by Stern and the Abtey-thal or to the north+, the trias

anseris since M. Emmerich’s visit. The dmmonites Johannis Austrie (Von Hauer)
from the lower limestones of Halstadt has also proved to be one of the fossils of this
deposit in the Tyrol.

* The peaks on the south side of this pass are termed Pissada Spitz, Masons
Spitz, &c.

a In his work entitled ‘ Uebersicht itiber die geognostischen Verhaltnisse Siid-
tyrols, 1846,’ Dr. H. Emmerich distinguishes the following Neptunian deposits
in ascending order in this region:—1. Red sandstone. 2. Posidonia limestone,
which he considers the same stratum that contains the T’rigonia vulgaris, Tere-
bratula trigonella, Gervillia socialis and Encrinites liliformis at Recoaro, and
is the true muschelkalk. 3. Hornstein-fihrender kalk, a small and local deposit
observed by M. Fuchs. 4. Halobian strata (black sandstone and calcareous
schist), This rock (which has been termed grauwacke) is the lias of Klipstein,
the Wengen deposit of Wissman, and the dolerite sandstone of Fuchs. 5.
St. Cassian beds usually united with the Halobian sandstone. 6. Upper lime-
stone with corals and brachiopods, in which, according to M. Fuchs, the fossils
of St. Cassian occur at Sotto di Sasso, about 8000 English feet above the sea.
Above all these come the jurassic dolomites. As to the Halobian sandstone, so
called from the occurrence of the genus Halodia, it appeared to me to be a rock
formed either during submarine volcanic action or out of the detritus of a plutonic
mass. It is evidently a local deposit, of which there are no traces near Recoaro
and Schio, where it is doubtless represented by other sandstones. The inter-
mixture of fossils under the head of ‘St. Cassian”’ is accounted for by the fact,
that they are collected in the rivulets which descend through jurassic as well as
triassic deposits. :

1848.| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 167

group is first clearly exposed with the dark grey or blackish ‘ Halo-
bian’’ sandstone, rising out from beneath the dolomitic rocks of the
Heilige-Kreutz, and then is exhibited in several flexures along the
sides of the gorge which leads to St. Martin. In this gorge, particu-
larly near Poderova, vertical walls of muschelkalk throw off red marls
occasionally gypseous, and pebbly conglomerates with many curvatures
and flexures ; the red ground being usually interlaced and associated
with limestones. Lastly, the system is flanked to the north of St.
Martin by crystalline schists (here very micaceous) which occupy the
place of the transition and metamorphic rocks of the Central Tyrol,
and range to the left bank of the river Rienz; for, on the right bank
of this stream near Sonnenburg is seen the western end of one of the
finest of Leopold von Buch’s so-called ellipsoids of granite, the eastern
extremity of which constitutes the striking Iffiger Spitz near Meran.
The protrusion and juxtaposition of this grand mass of granite ac-
counts, indeed, for the highly crystalline condition of the schists
between it and the trias.

Trias of Recoaro and the adjacent tracts.—Between the zone of
trias which occupies the valleys of Grodner, St. Cassian, &c., and
the southern edge of the Tyrolese Alps, there are other ellipsoids of
crystalline rock, which in their elevation have exposed considerable
thicknesses of sedimentary deposits aroundthem. The chief of these
is the Cima d’Asti with its central granite and its accompanying
erystallme formations in the Val Sugana, which I traversed rapidly
on a former occasion. Further to the 8.S.W. are other elliptical
masses, as seen in the valleys of Leogre, Posina and Recoaro, which
exhibit fundamental rocks of mica schist covered by an ascending
series, in which the trias is the prominent formation. By the valley
of Recoaro, I do not simply mean the gorge in which the baths
and village of that name are situated, but also all the undulating
district embracing Rovegliano and Communda, as well as both sides
of the ‘‘ Valle de Signori,’’ on which the road from Schio and Rovereto
proceeds by the pass of Corneto*. He who has but little time at his
disposal may rest satisfied with the very clear exposition of the triassic
strata which are exposed on the side of the Spitz mountain, imme-
diately south of the village of Recoaro ; where ascending from a base
of mica or stea-schist traversed by trap dykes, some of which run
almost horizontally with the strata, the observer will recognize the
following ascending order, as exposed in the annexed woodcut (fig. 1).

Some doubt may exist as to the age of the bottom stratum (2) rest-
ing on the mica schist (1). It is a red and white spotted, micaceous
sandstone with patches of coaly matter and carbonized vegetables, and
some geologists may be disposed to consider it carboniferous. But it

* Having walked over this district by the mountain tract from the Corneto
Pass to Recoaro, I afterwards revisited it, as well as the adjacent districts of the
Venetian Alps, in company with the chief members of the Geological Section of the
Venetian meeting of the ‘“ Scienziati Italiani,” including not only my previous com-
panions Von Buch and De Verneuil, but also the Marchese Pareto, M. de Zigno,
Major Charters, M. Parolini, and Mr. Pentland. M. Trettenero explained the
details at Recoaro, and M. Pasini became our leader in the region around Schio
and in the Setti Communi, of which hereafter.

168 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 13,

Fig. ie Monte Spitz.

Jura limestone and dolomite ...... 12 65
AVATICIS | OM Cg, fas atevae’ epatere, aie eoipl oie oho arele ll

Trias of the Tyrol resting
\ on mica schist and capped
==\ by jurassie dolomite.

Upper triassic limestones with
AVL Vest OSSLIS sts vs ata) «ele ciatete/ aver elelere DINE ae

Calcareous flagstones, &c. ...... / i =

Red and green marls............--

Sandy limestone...........-.ss00

Red sandstone and conglomerate
Winn on GS ogodoncoaded aa Goer

Mica and stea-schist .......-.es.0.

contains no plants on whose forms reliance could be placed, and it
may prove to be a lower portion of the ‘‘ bunter sandstein.”’ Indeed,
the whole stratum is of too feeble dimensions (not exceeding 40 to 50
feet) to require more illustration. It graduates upwards through
calciferous sandstones (4) into red and green marls (5), which un-
questionably belong to the trias, as proved by fossils found in them.
The overlying beds of trias are various bands of limestone (6, 7, 8),
one of which is slightly oolitic, which alternate with red marly and
sandy beds; and whilst certain bivalves, such as Myacites, &c.,
occur in the lower flagstone strata, the upper masses (9, 10) have af-
forded the greatest number of good and peculiar muschelkalk fossils.
It was in this band that Professor Briinner, jun., in a previous year,
detected the beautiful Encrinite since named EF. gracilis by V. Buch.
From this band we also collected many fragments of the L.. liliformis
with Terebratula vulgaris, &c., as well as forms common to the lower
strata of the group. Above this are sandstones (11) and jurassic
dolomitic limestone (12).

In the deep ravines which lie to the north and west of Recoaro,
similar successions of red sandstone, limestone and marls are observed.
Fossils occur most abundantly in the ridges of shelly limestone east
of Rovegliano (Communda Pass) and at Civelina, where slabs of
flaggy limestone are absolutely covered with Trigonize (Trigonellites),
with Terebratula vulgaris, Myacites, and other characteristic fossils
of the muschelkalk ; the deep denudation frequently exposing the
same descending order. In one of the lower fossil beds of yellowish
earthy limestone associated with reddish layers, our clever guide de-
tected the Spirifer fragilis *.

With these very clear proofs of the full development of the trias in
the localities already cited, there is every reason to believe, that the
equivalents of the system (not, however, always fossiliferous) may be
traced continuously along certain zones throughout the Eastern Alps,
and particularly where red rocks and limestone rise out from beneath
the great masses of alpine (lias and Jura) limestone, and repose upon

* This guide, Castellan, is recommended to geologists as an expert finder of
fossils.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS, 169

the transition or paleozoic rocks. In the general map before alluded
to, I roughly sketched such a zone both on the north and south
flanks of the transition rocks, and its presence has since been laid
down in greater detail by M. Morlot in his useful general map of the
Austrian Alps* ; though I cannot admit his suggestion that such red
rocks can be equivalents of the Rothe-todte-liegende.

The red sandstones (occasionally with certain yellowish limestones
and also with salt and gypsum), which my colleague and self de-
scribed in precisely the same geological position in the northern
portion of these Alps, are, I have no doubt, of similar age to those
described in the South Tyrol and Venetian Alps.

The researches of the paleeontologist in the associated limestones
have, indeed, to a great extent set that question at rest. M. von Hauer,
jun., of Vienna, has shown that some of the fossils in the Salzburg
Alps are identical with those which occur in the South Tyrol in the
environs of Castel Ruth, St. Ulrich and St. Cassian ; thus establishing
the existence of true muschelkalk types in the northern zone, where
they had not before been recognized. Among the fossils common to
both tracts is the Ammonites Johannis Austria (Hauer).

Whether any true triassic plants occur in strata of that age in the
central escarpments of the north-eastern Alps, is unknown to me. But
the discovery of them in certain places near Waidhofen and Steyer,
either in the middle of the area occupied by the secondary limestones
or at their northern edge, has led to a classification on the part of
the eminent mineralogist Haidinger, which, with every respect for
him, I would suggest is not founded on a sound geological basis.
The Calamites arenaceus, Pterophyllum longifolium, &c. (identified
as such by Dr. Unger of Gratz) have, indeed, been found in a sandstone
which dips under the liassic and jurassic limestones of the chain, and
such keuper plants are therefore incontestably in their right position.
Now, as this sandstone resembles some of the sandstones with im-
pure limestones, that constitute a great zone geographically ex-
ternal to the whole of the alpime limestone, and to which the name
of ‘flysch’? has been applied, and of which the “‘ Wiener sand-
stem’’ is the prolongation, M. Haidinger has identified the one with
the other, and in consequence has recently coloured as “ keuper,”’
the whole of the flysch+. This zone of rocks is that which, often
affected by great longitudinal faults, appears to dip under the alpine
limestone, and had been classed as the uppermost secondary mass
of the Alps. It is this very zone to which I am about presently
to call attention in detail as belonging to much younger deposits.
If the enormous thick accumulations of grits, limestones and fucoid
schists to which I now allude, had a real existence beneath the
lias where the strata are not inverted, then surely such rocks would
somewhere be seen in the well-exposed natural escarpments near
the base of those secondary rocks which lie im their normal posi-
tions. Such, indeed, is the position of the trias above described.

* See also the octavo volume accompanying the map by the same author,
“ Erlauterungen zur geologischen Uebersichtskarte der Nordostlichen Alpen, von
A. v. Morlot.”

+ See the new Geological Map of the Austrian Empire.

170 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

The view of M. Haidinger is, I apprehend, to be accounted for by
an attempt to identify rocks by mineral resemblances, and by com-
paring strata in broken and inverted positions with others (sup-
posed to be the same) which lie in their normal state. Finding
certain sandstones which resemble the ‘‘ Wiener sandstein”’ really
plunging under the alpine limestone and lias, and containing keuper
plants, and further seeing that the great mass of the Vienna grits
external to the chain which are of similar appearance also seem to
plunge under the same limestone ridge, a conclusion has been arrived
at which I apprehend my distinguished friend M. Haidinger will
abandon, as applied to most of the large and widely spread masses in
question. For, if all the Vienna grits so intercalated between the
great masses of secondary and tertiary rocks, be the representatives
of the keuper, then all the “flysch” of Switzerland, the grits and
sandstones on the flanks of the Carpathians, and the upper macigno
of the Italians, may on such reasoning be similarly grouped. Now,
although a band of true keuper sandstone with plants may crop out in
the localities cited, it is physically impossible that all the great ex-
ternal zone to which I have alluded, and which, as I shall presently
show, truly forms the last member in ascending order of the great
chain of the Alps, can be referred to the keuper, a natural system
which is now well understood in the Eastern Alps, and not one of
whose fossils has ever been found in that external zone of Vienna
sandstone, which forms the continuation of the Swiss and Bavarian
‘flysch’? on all preceding maps*.

In the extension of the trias westward through the North Tyrol,
its presence is only as yet recognizable to a very limited and doubtful
extent. In short, it may be stated, that no discoveries have been
made, either in the central Swiss Alps or in Savoy, which can lead
us to think that the trias has had any existence there. Still,
judging from the analogy of the Eastern Alps, it zs possible that a
spot or two may be found where the limestone is so little penetrated
by metamorphic action as to have left some intelligible evidence
of the triassic group. Leopold von Buch inclines, I believe, to the
opinion that such a group will be detected.

* M. Morlot’s map of the North-Eastern Alps is, as I conceive, quite correct in
representing these Vienna grits to be a prolongation of the “flysch” of Switzer-
land, and in placing them in their true overlying position. But since its publica-
tion, M. Morlot has abandoned that opinion, and has adopted the view of M. Hai-
dinger. See a brief notice (Sulla Conformazione geologica dell’ Istria, Giornale
dell’ Istria, Nos. 61, 62, 1847). Again, in a communication to M. Haidinger on
the position occupied by the “‘ Wiener sandstein”’ or fucoid grits, he endeavours
to show, that in following it from Istria into the interior of the Alps up the valley
of the Isonzo, that formation is seen near Raibl to take, as he says, ‘its place
between the lower muschelkalk (?) and upper alpine limestone,” and thus represents
the Keuper (Reports of the Meetings of the Friends of Science, Vienna, Haidinger,
vol. iii. Oct. 1847, p. 334). Whilst these sheets are passing through the press,
the author has received M. Morlot’s detailed memoir and map of Istria, ‘‘ Natur-
wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, vol. ii. p. 257.” His descending order is,—
1. Eocene or nummulitic rocks; 2. Chalk; 3. Tassello. I have some difficulty
in reconciling this order either with some of the sections or with the colouring
of the map of Istria by M. Morlot.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 171

“NI

LoweER AND Upper ALPINE LIMESTONES.

Tiasso-Jurassic and Oxfordian.—Following the classification of
M. Lill von Lilienbach, Professor Sedgwick and myself considered
the alpine limestone of the Salzburg Alps as divided into two great
masses, separated by shale, sandstone and limestone with certain
saliferous deposits. In differing from some of our contemporaries in
assigning a portion of the lowest of these fossiliferous limestones at
Admet, to the age of the lias, I still believe we were correct. But, as
before said, in the accurate determination of all the members of these
lower secondary rocks, a portion of which is now ascertained to be
triassic, so much depends on the researches now in progress by the
Austrian paleontologists, that I forbear to enter upon a further con-
sideration of the relations of that tract. Looking on the Alps as a
whole, however, we have obtained sufficient proof that the has and
equivalents of the inferior oolite occupy a considerable thickness of
the lower portion of what was called alpine limestone. This fact has
been clearly established by the presence of fossils in the Venetian,
Tyrolese and Milanese Alps. There are indeed tracts in which the
Gryphea incurva and several true liassic ammonites occur in rocks
of this age, whilst in Switzerland and the Western Alps the zone
has been traced and identified by Studer, Elie de Beaumont, Sis-
monda and many geologists.

In following these lower jurassic limestones from the Eastern into
the Swiss and Western Alps, great changes in their mineral cha-
racter are observable. In the first region they are very frequently
light-coloured limestones often in the state of dolomite. In the west
they are for the most part dark and even black. As, however, the
chief strata in many parts of the Tyrol occur in the form of ordinary
limestones, and as these can be followed in the strike until they are
found to be transformed into dolomites, so this simple fact seems to
me strikingly to corroborate the general view of M. von Buch, that
the dolomites of the Alps have been produced by a modification or
metamorphism of the original strata. Whatever may have been the
proximate cause of this great metamorphosis—whether by certain
hot vapours or gases, which rose from beneath during one of the
revolutions which the chain has undergone, or by any other agent,—
it is certain that this cause has acted. not only vertically and obliquely,
but in many instances horizontally over very large areas ; thus trans-
forming the superior strata and leaving comparatively unaltered those
beneath. If the crystallme dolomites of the Eastern Alps were the
result of original deposit like the magnesian limestone of England, as
some geologists aver, then we should not see the irregular and, if I may
so say, capricious diffusion of the dolomite, which far from affecting
any one set of strata in their horizontal extension, is absent or pre-
sent in rocks of various ages and at different horizons.

Whilst the great masses of dolomite are peculiar to the Eastern
Alps, and are most striking in the tracts of the South Tyrol which
have been penetrated by porphyries and other igneous rocks, their
place is to a great extent taken in the Western Alps by copious masses

172 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [| Dec. 13,

of gypsum. In like manner, as the dolomite is the metamorphosed
limestone, the lines of bedding and fossils of which are frequently left
in the transformed masses, so are the great accumulations of gypsum
apparently deposits of carbonate of lime which have been changed
into the sulphate of lime. Whether on the highest part of the route
over Mont Cenis, or in the deep gorges of the Tarentaise or the Mau-
rienne, or in the Allée Blanche, the valley of Cormayeur and other
tracts around Mont Blanc, the same lesson is invariably to be read off ;
viz. that great bands of limestone have been here and there, and often
along zones of some length, converted into gypsum. For, the strati-
fication and even the colours of the original mass so remain, the thick
and thinly laminated beds of various tints of white and brown and
grey limestone are so preserved, that I have frequently walked up to
a rock under the persuasion it was a continuation of the limestone of
an adjacent escarpment, until my hammer undeceived me. Whilst
expressing my own belief, I must say that it is chiefly a development
of the view entertained by the deceased Mr. Bakewell, who as early
as 1820, when residing at the baths of Brida in the Tarentaise, came
distinctly to the conclusion, that the great limestones of Savoy be-
longed to the upper secondary strata, and that the gypsum, whether
anhydrous or granular, was subordinate to and interstratified with
them. That author had also the merit of remarking how these sub-
crystalline rocks of secondary age were associated with tale schists
and mica schists, and were all connected with the alterations due to
the action of heat and the formation of granitic rocks*.

I will not here enter at greater length into the question of whether
these masses of stratified gypsum, which sometimes occupy entire
mountains, were contemporaneously deposited with carbonates of lime.
If the presence of such thick accumulations of anhydrous gypsum be
not due to metamorphism, I would ask those who entertain the op-
posite view to explam, how they can suppose that in the very same sea
and at the very same period, carbonates of lime should have been
deposited along many leagues of the sea-bottom, and that all at once
the same laminz of deposit should have been formed of sulphate of
lime? How dovetail the one into the other? On the other hand,
nothing is so natural as that the evolution of heat and gas in a region
permeated by igneous rocks should have converted the original car-
bonates into sulphates in one tract, and have left the limestones un-
changed in another.

Fortunately, indeed, nature still exhibits in the Alps of Savoy
the process by which this conversion may have been effected.
The well-known thermal waters of Aix, which rise from a great line
of fissure, and contain a notable quantity of sulphur, do now actually
change the ordinary jurassic limestone into the sulphate of lime,
wherever their hot vapours charged with sulphuric acid have access

* See Bakewell’s Travels in the Tarentaise, &c., vol. i. pp. 276 ef seg. and pp.
289 to 311. Showing, according to M. Charpentier, that the granular gypsum of the
Alps is simply the decomposed anhydrite, Mr. Bakewell points out the existence
of a carbonaceous stratum in the heart of a thick band of gypsum.

1848.| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 173

to that rock*. We have only, therefore, to suppose, when some of
those powerful changes occurred to which the Alps were subjected,
that the more copious transmission of such hot springs and gases,
operating on a grander scale and with much more intensity, produced
commensurate changes of the carbonates into sulphates of lime, even
throughout mountain masses, and also disseminated flakes of sulphur
at intervals (as we find them) in the gypsum of the Alps. The con-
version of ordinary limestone into the sulphate is usually accom-
panied in the Alps by other phzenomena which forcibly bespeak
metamorphism. The limestones situated near deep cracks and fissures
(in some of which hot springs still exist, as at Moutiers) are fre-
quently in the condition of a cellular hard tufa, sometimes siliceous,
which is known in Savoy under the name of “ Cargneule.’’ No one
can view this rock and not believe that it is the result of an action in
which much heat and gas were evolved.

Although I have introduced the subject of these metamorphisms
of limestone whilst speaking of the has and lower oolite, I am by no
means prepared to say, that the same transformation in the Western
Alps has not also been applied to strata both of older and younger
date ; just as limestones of different age in the Eastern Alps have been
changed into dolomites. But however this may be, great masses of
gypsum are certainly of about the age I speak of, inasmuch as be-
lemnites and ammonites and other shells of the lias, including the
Gryphea gigantea, have been found in the associated strata at Bex
by M. Lardi. Wherever certain ammonites, such as the 4. Walcotti,
and belemnites, or the Gryphea incurva, Plagiostoma gigantea, &c.,
occur in the strata which occupy the lower zone of the alpine lime-.
stone, no one will dispute that such is about the horizon of the lias,
whatever may be the mineralogical character or colour and structure
of the rocks.

In some tracts saurians have recently been found in the limestones,
as near Admont in the Austrian Alps, and at Perledo near Laico in
the Milanese ; but the small and peculiar forms from the last-men-
tioned locality do not afford such sufficiently clear testimony con-
cerning the age of the depositt. I am not aware that any fishes
of the liassic age have been detected in the Alps. M. Heckl of

* M. Joseph Bonjean, in an elaborate analysis of the mineral waters of Aix
(Annales des Mines, vol. xvi. Third Series, p. 299), whilst treating of various
effects produced by their acidulous vapours or gases, says— Quelle que soit la
nature des corps soumis 4a l’action de cette vapeur (gas acide sulfhydrique), ils
sont tous rongés et détruits dans un espace de temps plus ou moins long. C'est
ainsi que les pierres calcaires, dont se composent les murs, se convertissent assez
promptement en sulfate de chaux a leur surface,” p. 342. The intelligent physician
of the baths, M. Despine fils, showed me the effects of this process, and gave me
specimens in which limestone several inches thick had been so metamorphosed.
This phenomenon of conversion of carbonate of lime into sulphate is also clearly
described by Professor Mousson of Zurich, in a very able memoir on the district
around Aix and Chambery. The subject of the occurrence of thermal waters along
lines of dislocation is still more fully developed by this author in his sketch of the
geology around Baden in Switzerland.

+ See Memoir by M. Giuliano Curioni, Giornale dell’ Instituto Lombardo delle
Scienze, tom. xvi. p. 170.

VOL. V.—PART I. O

174 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

Vienna, an excellent ichthyologist, showed me indeed a small round
fish with a heterocerque tail from Perledo near Laico, the same tract
in which the small saurian occurs, and which might lead to the
belief in the existence of a still older deposit in that region. He
also pointed out to me specimens of ichthyolites from bituminous
schists associated with the limestones between Adelsberg and Zirck-
nitz in Illyria, which are chiefly of the genera Lepidotus and Paleeo-
niscus, and much resemble the fishes I formerly collected at Seefeld*
in the North Tyrol, the strata of which, according to the preseut
view of their succession, must be the equivalents of the lias and lower
oolite. In Illyria, however, the above fishes are associated with a
species of the genus Thryssops, which has not yet been found at
Seefeld, but occurs at Solenhofen. These fishes indicate then the
existence of jurassic rocks in that region.

In tracing the lias and Jura limestone through Savoy, I shall say
little more than that, in following out the researches of M. Elie de
Beaumont, Professor Sismonda has detected the presence of a sufli-
cient number of fossils to characterise the liasso-jurassic and overlying
Oxfordian groups, fossils of both of which are to be seen in the mu-
seums of Turm and Chambery.

Rocks containing Belemnites and Coal Plants in the Savoy Alps.
—I may now allude to the much-agitated question of the plants of
carboniferous species+ being associated with belemnites. M. Elie de
Beaumont and M. Sismonda contend that these plants (which are
doubtless true carboniferous species) are interstratified with belem-
nites, notably at Petit Coeur in the Tarentaise, and that m many
other parts of Savoy zones of similar plants occur, which are, in truth,
prolongations of lassie or jurassic deposits, in which the well-known
animal remains of those periods prevail. This opinion has met with
antagonists, and the greater number of geologists, bemg naturally
averse to what they consider an anomalous collocation, the recognition
of which is attended with great difficulties, are disposed to receive
with favour every effort which has been made to explain the phzeno-
menon by reversal or plication. Until I visited the Savoy Alps, I
confess that I was of this number ; for the theoretical sections of
M. Favre of Geneva, showing the possible curvature of beds the ends
of which have been truncated, and the opinions at which other geo-
logists had arrived, that a true representation of the carboniferous
system existed in the Savoy Alps, and that the plants of Petit Coeur
formed a part of it, had strongly predisposed me to coincide with such
views. After an examination, however, of the case of Petit Coeur,
I know not how to arrive at any other conclusion than that adopted
by M. de Beaumont and M. Sismonda, the grounds for which I now
proceed to explain.

* See Phil. Mag. and Ann. of Philosophy, 1829, vol. vi. p.36. At that time, long
before the days of Agassiz, I suggested that these fish might be of the age of the
Thuringian schists. They are however clearly of liasso-jurassic age.

+ Mr. Bunbury has recently shown that all the species of plants from these
localities, examined by him at Turin, are true carboniferous forms—thus confirm-
ing the dictum of M. Adolphe Brongniart (Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. v. p. 130).

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. ty7D

The chief natural feature which influenced me in relation to this
question was, that wherever I turned my steps in the Savoy Alps,
whether into the Maurienne or the Tarentaise, or towards the en-
virons of Mont Blanc, I uniformly observed that beneath a zone di-
stinguishable as lias by its fossils as well as by its intimate relations
with overlying Jura deposits, there was (with the exception of a certain
conglomerate and sandstone, often associated closely with such lias)
no sufficient development to represent any of the inferior formations
from the trias inclusive downwards ; all the lower strata bemg in a
metamorphosed and crystalline condition. In other words, it seemed
to me that between the inferior crystalline rocks and the stratum with
belemnites (often itself much altered), there was no adequate repre-
sentative in space or time for the carboniferous rocks; which if ever
they existed, must, therefore, I inferred, have been merged in the
great metamorphosis which all the central portion had undergone.
Nor could I avoid the query, if the schistose deposits in which true
and beautifully preserved coal species occurred, were of the old car-
boniferous date, why no vestige of any paleeozoic animal had been
-ever detected in the Western Alps, whilst in the Eastern Alps there
are, as has been stated, animal remains of the triassic, carboniferous,
Devonian and Silurian ages?

Let us now appeal to the facts of the section of Petit Coeur. On
inspecting the map of Savoy, it will be seen that at Conflans or
Albertville, the river Isére having hitherto flowed tranversely by
Moutiers ina deep valley across the ridges of the Tarentaise, or from
S.W. to N.E., makes a sudden bend and thence trends south-west-
ward to Montmelian and Grenoble. This latter part of its course is,
in fact, determined by mountains of jurassic limestone, which have
the same general direction, and which constituting the outer zone of
the Alps, are composed of the equivalents of the Oxfordian and upper
oolites, together with the overlying cretaceous deposits hereafter to
be alluded to. In ascending the transverse gorge of the Isére from
Albertville to Moutiers, the geologist has no sooner quitted that outer
calcareous zone and passed to the opposite side of the valley, than he
finds himself immersed in talcose crystalline schists, in parts highly
quartzose, and in parts having somewhat of a gneissose aspect. I do
not pretend to describe every variety of these rocks, but it is worthy
of remark, that in this narrow transverse gorge, whether they be
talcose, micaceous, felspathic or quartzose, the strata in their central
part appear to wrap over an ellipsoid of granite and granitic gneiss,
which is in parts porphyritic*. As far as dip can be marked, these
crystallme rocks between Albertville and the zone of granite are ver-
tical ; whilst to the S.E. or higher up they incline away from the
granite. At all events, when the gorge widens and you approach
to Petit Coeur, a village on the right bank of that river, the dip of
the crystalline mass is decisively to the S.E. A coarse quartzose

* See the clear and copious account of all these phenomena in the narrative of
the excursion of the geologists assembled at the meeting of Chambery in 1841,
by the Abbé (now Canon) Chamousset, as well as M. Virlet’s note on the porphy-
ritic granite of La Batie (Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. vol. i. New Series, pp. 166 e¢ seg.).

176 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [ Dec. 13,

conglomerate is here intercalated in the tale schists and dips with
them. A little above or N. of Petit Coeur a mountain rill descending
from N.E. to S.W., waters the highly inclined faces of these tale
schists, or rather occupies a deep gorge in them, to the east of which
these same beds are seen to graduate up into and to be surmounted
by others which contain belemnites and plants, the whole in perfectly
conformable apposition and at angles from 70° to 75°, as expressed

Pigs 2.
= oe

N.W. Petit-cceur. S.E.
Ts ; =
mw _\ \ \\ A

TN A

Tale schist. 1 2°34 5 Jurassic rocks.

1. Tale schist with sandstone. 4. Grits, sandstone, &c.
2. Black slates (Belemnites). 5. Jurassic schists, &c.
3. Tale schists with anthracite. +t Coarse detritus and blocks.

in the woodcut (fig. 2). The upper portion of the inferior or cry-
stalline strata is a light-coloured tale schist used im the mountains
for the covering of cottages. It is called ‘‘ ardoise blanche”’ by the
quarrymen, and forms the floor of the quarry (1). Immediately
upon this, and perfectly parallel to it, lies another stratum (2) of fissile
calcareous flagstone of dark indigo colour, called “‘ardoise noire,” in
which the belemnites occur. I could detect no slaty cleavage in these
beds, whilst both the shining or talcose, and the dull black or calca-
reous flagstones strike N.N.E. and dip together 70° to 75° E.S.E.
They are further connected by certain bands of hard sandstone oc-
casionally coarse and gritty, with which the dark flags alternate to-
wards their base. In the lower quarry (there being several openings
in the line of strike in order to procure the black calcareous flagstone),
these belemnitic beds are seen to be surmounted by another band of
tale schist (3), as conformable to the belemnite flags or slates (2) as
the latter are to the inferior talc schist (1). The uppermost of the
three beds is that in which a certain portion of anthracite has been
detected, the exploration of which has led to the discovery of numerous
plants. These plants chiefly lie in the floor of the anthracitic schist,
and therefore within a few feet of the belemnite flags (2), and they
are strikingly distinguished by the brilliant white relief of the frame-
work of the vegetables due to the dissemination of the tale upon the
dark ground of the schist or flagstone.: Much pyrites in single ery-
stals and bunches occurs throughout ‘the rock.

This carbonaceous schist with plants, several yards thick, is sur-
mounted by strong beds of dark grey hard grit that weathers to a
rusty colour, and which alternates several times with dark-coloured
schists. And here it is to be observed, that the sandstone (4) above
the coal plants is not to be distinguished from the band beneath the
belemnite flagstone ; or in other words, both the belemnite and the
plant beds form parts of the same geological mass, the upper and
lower parts of which are of similar composition, the tale schist and

1848.]| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 177

the sandstone being repeated. In fact, I cannot imagine how any
geologist can look at this section and not declare that the whole of
these strata form one natural group of very small dimensions. In
tracing these beds up the hill-side I further convinced myself, that
the belemnite flags (the belemnites most abound in the upper quarries)
have there exactly the same relations to overlymg and underlying
grits, the whole resting, as in the lower quarries, on the white talc
slates and also in perfect conformity. In these sections there can
be no ambiguity, for you can absolutely follow the line of strike of each
bed nearly a mile up the mountain-side. No traces of folding or
contortion are observable ; and as belemnites have been found within a
foot of the coal-plant bed, it appears, that however we may endeavour
to explain them, the physical facts are clear and decisive.

It is true, that in ascending the hill the anthracite thins out from
four feet to a few inches, whilst the black belemnite flags are more
expanded in the higher than in the lower quarries; but this phzeno-
menon, so well known to every working geologist, is not worth men-
tioning, were it not necessary to allude to the minutest circumstance
in this singular collocation. The whole group is affected by the same
Ines of joint or division, and all the beds exfoliate parallel to the laminze
of deposit, the more calcareous portions showing a tendency to assume
flat concretionary forms, which produce small undulations in the upper
quarries.

Above Petit Coeur the dip to the 8.S.E. is continuous for a short
distance, and there is therefore a certain amount of ascending order ;
but in the parallel of Moutiers the succession is checked by one of those
grand transverse dislocations so frequent in the Alps, accompanied by
the evolution of hot springs.

According to M. de Beaumont and M. Sismonda, the belemnites,
shales and flagstones of Petit Coeur are a portion of certain adjacent
jurassic groups in which many ammonites and other fossils occur.
These fossils are found in strata of dark shale and schist, which ap-
pear on the strike of these beds as they range across the valley of the
Isére and appear in the passes which traverse the mountains that
separate the Tarentaise from the Maurienne. It is probable that the
same strata are several times repeated by fractures if not by undula-
tions ; for it seemed clear to me that the whole of the series exposed
between St. Michel and St. Jean de Maurienne, 7. e. the dark shale and
patches of coaly matter underlying or associated with jurassic rocks,
represents the succession seen between Petit Coeur and Moutiers in
the Tarentaise. The ammonites and other fossils I now present
were taken from the broken slopes of the Col de la Madeleine, or
rather from the elevated depression immediately to the S.S.W. of
Aigues blanches, where they were collected by M. Ansenet. They
appear to be in great part the same as those already collected in the
tract at the Encombres by M. A. Sismonda, among which that author
enumerates the Ammonites fimbriatus, Sow., A. planicostatus, Sow.,
Avicula inequivalvis, Sow., A. costata, Sow., Terebratula inequi-
valvis, Sow., T. variabilis, with a multitude of belemnites*.

* See a more complete list of these fossils, with specimens from other places in

178 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

If the previous statement of the geological relations at Petit Coeur
be, as I think, accurate, ¢.e. if the plants and belemnites really he
in the same deposit, as was also concluded by the geologists of the
French Society, who met at Chambery, the anomaly is great, and
involves us in considerable natural-history difficulties. But are these
difficulties insurmountable, and ought geologists to shrink from en-
deavouring to reconcile them because they interfere with the general
distribution of fossil plants? Excluding for the present all theory,
let me say that I cannot admit the presence of certain species of fossil
plants to be as decisive of the age of a deposit as that of the remains
of any well-known animal. Thus, the Calamites arenarius cited by
Brongniart as pertaining to the old coal, is found both in the Permian
system and in the Bunter sandstem and Keuper, or throughout the
Trias, a system in which no one paleeozoic animal has been detected.
Again, the Hquisetum columnare, which so abounds in the Brora
(oolite) coal, and is most abundant on the Yorkshire coast beneath
the Kelloway rock, is one of the most common of the trias plants of
Germany. And yet as a whole, both the fauna and flora of the middle
oolite and trias are utterly dissimilar. Look, on the other hand, to
the weight attached to the presence of belemnites. In no instance
has a belemnite been detected in any part of the world below the
lias. ‘The trias, of which there is not a trace in Savoy, but now so
well known in the Eastern and Tyrolese Alps, affords no sign of a
belemnite any more than the same group in other regions; still less
has any one ever heard of a belemnite in an old carboniferous deposit
in any part of the world.

In giving the previous description of the section at Petit Coeur, I
have done so in opposition, I repeat, to the strong wish I entertained
to be able to offer any explanation which might obviate the dilemma
in which such a recognition places us. I tried, for example, to
account for the phenomenon by an inverted dip, and endeavoured
to reconcile the overlying position of the coal plants by a reversal,
similar to that which clearly operated on the north face of Mont
Blanc: but there the belemnitic strata plunge under crystallime
rocks, whilst at Petit Coeur they overlie and are intercalated in them.
I could not speculate on the crystalline rocks of the Isére being ori-
ginally of younger age than the belemnite beds, like the well-known
examples on the northern face of Mont Blanc in the vale of Chamo-
nix, and having been metamorphosed by the influence of the ellipsoid
of granite before adverted to ; because if so, and that these fossili-
ferous beds were inverted, other older strata besides the mere bed
with coal plants would be found above them, which is not the case ;
the same liassic or jurassic group being manifestly developed in con-
siderable force on the line of dip.

Those geologists who have explored the environs of Mont Blane
have long been acquainted with the fact first indicated by Sir Henry
de la Beche, that coal plants also appear in the well-known con-

Piedmont, which include other known species of Sowerby, V. Buch, Schlotheim,
Agassiz, &c., as given by M. Sismonda, with a descriptive plate of the species
from the Encombres (Bull. de la Soc. Géol. Fr. vol. vy. New Series, p. 410).

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 179

glomerate of Valorsine, and it is fair to state that a very clear and
instructive recent section of M. Favre indicates, that this band there
forms (Col de Balme) the conformable base of all the liassic and
jurassic deposits, whether altered or unaltered, of that highly dis-
turbed tract *.

I do not wish, with my present knowledge, to press the question
more closely. Those who have not examined the sections might
theorize that the thin anthracitic zone of Petit Coeur was a mere
shred, which had been left among the gorges of the pre-existing
and crystalline rocks, but it is impossible to apply such a hypothesis
to the case; for if the crystalline rocks on the Isére be of anterior
date, then we see that the belemnites lie between them and the coal
plants; and if they be altered lias and Jura, then it is almost in-
credible that a few feet of old carboniferous rocks should be so con-
formably interlaced with these younger deposits. It is just barely
possible, that instead of the vertical truncated cone theoretically sug-
gested by M. Favre to explain the anomaly+, the older carboniferous
rocks may have here been thrown into a very rapid inverted anticlinal
flexure, leaving a few feet only at their apex, and that jurassic or
liassic strata have been conformably folded around this point, the
whole having been since altered and denuded. But if so, it is cer-
tainly a section more deceptive than any I ever examined ; and until
I meet with other sites affording a different explanation, I can only
repeat my belief, that the relations of the strata sustain the conclu-
sions of M. E. de Beaumontt.

Upper Alpine Limestone (Oxfordian, §c.).—I may remind English
geologists, that the parallelism with their oolitic deposits which has
been so elaborately worked out by M. P. Merian and other Swiss au-
thorities in the Jura mountains, has, despite of change of mineral cha-
racter and the much rarer occurrence of fossils, been successfully ap-
plied to the French and Savoy Alps by M. Sismonda, and to the Swiss
Alps by Prof. Studer and M. Escher. But notwithstanding the former
publications of Pasini and Catullo, the clear definition of an equiva-
lent of the Oxfordian group, as established in the Savoy and Swiss
Alps, had not been defined in the Southern Alps until M. von Buch
demonstrated to the Italian geologists at the Milan meeting that their
** Ammonitico rosso”’ was of Oxfordian age§. This view has since
been much extended in respect to the Venetian Alps by M. de Zigno
of Padua. In the excursion of the geologists of the Venetian meet-
ing before alluded to, in the mountains of the Setti Communi, my
friends and myself were convinced of the accuracy of the fossiliferous
distinctions by which that geologist had separated the red ammonite
limestone from the lower jurassic rocks on the one hand, and

* Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. vol. v. p. 263.

+ Remarques sur les Anthracites des Alpes, par Alphonse Favre. Tom. ix. Mém.
Soc. Phys. et Hist. Nat. de Genéve.

t The able Memoir of M. Scipion Gras, on the association of the carbonaceous
deposits of the Isére, and on their passage into crystalline rocks beneath, and their
being clearly separated from all liassic strata above them, is to be taken into con-
sideration in settling this question. See Annales des Mines, vol. xvi. p. 361.

§ See Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. vol. i. pp. 132 e¢ passim.

180 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socieTY. [Dec. 13,

from the overlying neocomian and cretaceous rocks on the other.
In ascending from Pedescala, in the valley of the Astico, to the
plateau of the Setti Communi, we passed first over the edges of a
great mass chiefly in the state of dolomite, probably representing
the has and inferior oolite, and then over rubbly yellowish earthy
limestone ; next over other courses of greyish limestone containing
Turritellee, followed by limestone of deep red colour, which from the
quantity of ammonites found init has obtained the name of ‘“‘ Ammo-
nitico rosso.” This last is surmounted by the white neocomian
limestone. In traversing the lofty plateau of the Setti Communi
from Castel Bello by Rotzo and Roana*, we had numerous exhibi-
tions of an ascending order, from grey earthy limestone, with some
sandy beds, up into the same red ammonite limestones, and thence
into the white neocomian, which is here a purely white indurated
rock, and as much loaded with flints as our chalk of Antrim, which
it much resembles. Without dwelling on any details, I will simply
enumerate the succession of the strata of this tract, as proved from
different sections which exhibit the strata more or less inclined, but
all conformable, and in this ascending order :—

1. Dolomite, &c., of great thickness, probably representing lias.
2. Compact brecciated marls. 3. Beds of fine oolite, alternating
with yellowish marly limestone, containing shells, including Di-
ceras, Gryphea, &c. 4. Thin-bedded limestone with Nerinza
and univalves. 5. Thin-bedded, dark grey, sandy limestone,
with Neuropteris and other plants. 6. ‘‘ Lumachello grigio,”
grey mottled limestone with marl, yellow marly beds and grey
lumachello with sections of large bivalves. 7. ‘“ Ammonitico
rosso.’ This rock is mvariably the summit of all the jurassic
strata in this region, and clearly represents the Oxford formation.
Although seldom more than fifty or sixty feet thick, it is an
excellent horizon, since it contains Ammonites athleta (Phill.),
A. anceps (Reimecke), 4. Horneri (D’Orb.), 4. Tatricus (Pusch),
A. viator (D’Orb.), with Terebratula diphyaand T. triangulata.
8. ‘* Biancone,” or neocomian with Crioceras Duvalli (Leym.),
Belemnites latus (Blainv.), Ammonites asterianus, A. incertus
and A. semistriatus (D’Orb.), with some forms in the upper-
most beds resembling those of gault, such as 4. Royerianus
(D’Orb.). In all, this group contains fifteen species of Am-
monites, five or six species of Crioceras with Ancyloceras,
Aptychus of two species, &c. 9. ‘ Lower Scaglia,” of grey
colours with fucoids,—lower chalk. 10. “ Upper Scaglia,” of
red and white colours,—upper chalk, &c. 11. Nummulite lime-
stone and grit, with Cerithium giganteum and Nummulites of
the same lower tertiary age as in the same position at Bassano ;
of which and of all the series from the neocomian upwards I
shall treat hereafter.

In other parts of the South Tyrol, and notably at Trent, M. von

* This is the wild country of the ancient Cimri, and the people still talk a lan-
guage unknown in any other part of the Alps.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 181

Buch pointed out to me the clear determination of the Oxfordian
formation by the presence of several of the fossils above enumerated ;
and in the grand natural sections between Rovereto and the Corneto
pass, I also perceived a fine succession under the Ammonitico rosso.

The same Oxfordian zone has been delineated in Piedmont and
Savoy by M. Sismonda. In the environs of Chambery and Aix les
Bains, I had the advantage of studying its relation to the superior or
cretaceous strata with the Canon Chamousset. That geologist has
there divided the great Oxfordian masses into four parts, the lowest
of which are marly limestones in beds of about a foot thick. 2ndly,
Limestones, deep grey or bluish, with white ves and some ferrugi-
nous oolite. It is this band which contains most of the fossils, inclu-
ding the Ammonites biplex, &c., with Aptychi, &c. 3rdly, Foliated
marls or calcareous flags; and, 4thly, Marly limestone, &c. This
zone is overlaid by limestone with many corals, which is paralleled
with the coral rag of English geologists, and that again is conformably
overlaid by a full expanse of the neocomian formation, which in this
region is divisible into three parts.

Not describing all these strata, I here merely annex a general sec-
tion from the base of the Oxfordian to the summit of the Neocomian,
which I made on the western shore of the Lac de Bourget on
the sides of the zigzag road from Chambery to Lyons, which tra-
verses the Montagne du Chat+. This Oxfordian group forms the

Fig. 3.

WwW. Mt. du Chat. E.

Lake of
Bourget.

5b. Upper Neocomian limestone with Chama ammonia.
Cretaceous. {a Middle Neocomian with Spatangus retusus.
a. Lower Neocomian, greenish ferruginous calc grit with Ostree, Pectens, &c.=
base of English Lower greensand.
Coralline limestone=Coral rag. Summits dolomitic.

: 3.
Jurassic. { 1. Oxfordian Jura with Kelloway rock fossils. 2. Schists and limestones.

base of all the outer edges of the Savoy Alps ; their summits usually
consisting of neocomian limestone, and often covered by still younger
rocks. This order is seen around Chambery and the lake of Bourget
at Annecy, in the valley of the Arve, both above and below Sallenches,
and near Geneva.

The Oxfordian limestones, but without such a capping, are co-
piously exhibited in the range of mountains east of Vevey. At
Chatel St. Denis, where the limestone is very mottled and con-
cretionary, it is loaded with ammonites and Aptychit ; andthe same
rock, subjected to great flexures, rises into the high peak, the Dent

+ See Bull. Geol. Soc. Fr. new ser. t.i. pl. 9. fig. 3.
{ I was directed to these limestones by M. Studer, and M. Collon of Vevey ac-
companied me thither.

182 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

de Jaman*, so well known to tourists, where masses of the mottled
limestone with flint nodules repose on dark schists and impure lime-
stones as thus represented. From that peak there is apparently a

Fig. 4, Dent de

AK
AA
Strike N. & S. 2 Oxfordian.

Molasse. Fault. Lower Jura.
descending succession through other limestones, as exposed in the gorge
of the Baye de Montreux near Glion, down to the black fetid limestones
and shale at the bridge of Montreux, which may represent the lias.
Again, when wandering through the Swiss Alps, whether on the
lakes of Thun and Brientz, on the upper portion of the Lake of the
Four Cantons (fig. 12), or on the northern shore of the lake of Wallen-
stadt (fig. 14), I came upon calcareous bands, which Studer, Escher,
and the best Swiss geologists consider to be of Oxfordian age, some-
times surmounted by limestones the equivalent of the coral rag, and
sometimes without them, but invariably covered by the neocomian
limestone, as in the Savoy section (fig. 3). The Portland limestone,
so copiously developed in the Jura, and so rich in fossils at Soleure,
has not as yet, to my knowledge, been found in the Alpst. It is only
indeed by fossils (and unfortunately they are of rare occurrence in the
alpine limestones) that the strata can be actually referred to the respec-
tive members of the jurassic or oolitic series. Resting upon carbona-
ceous schists, which in their turn overlie the so-called “‘ Sernft con-
glomerate”’ and quartzose tale slate, the upper part of the lower divi-
sion of the jurassic rocks of the canton Glarus, in parts dolomitic
(“‘ Zwischen-bildungen”’ of Studer), are characterized in their upper
member by the diffusion of iron ore in an oolitic matrix. It is this
rock which contains the dmmonites Gowerianus (Sow.), Ad. macro-
cephalus (Schloth.), A. Parkinsonii (2%), Ostrea pectiniformis
(Schloth.), O. calceola (Goldf.), and Terebratula digona (Sow.), &e.

The overlying stage, or that which immediately succeeds to the
ferruginous oolite (the ‘‘ Hoch-Gebirg’s Kalk” of the late M. Escher),
as seen in the cantons of Glarus and Appenzell, contains the charac-
teristic forms Ammonites biplex and A. polyplocus, with belemnites,
and is therefore a good representative of the Oxfordian of the Alps §.

* 1872 metres above the sea.

+ M.Collon informed me that the Ammonites Petit Thouars (d’Orb.), a lias
fossil, had been found in the black limestones and schists which are exposed in
the gorge above the little bridge, dipping under the mass of the adjacent moun-
tains.

+ The abundance of tortoises and other peculiar fossils which characterize the
“¢ Portlandian ”’ of Soleure, indicate the local character of the formation, and the
same may, indeed, even be said of the Portland rock of England.

§ For the description of the lithological varieties of these Alpine jurassic rocks,
see the Gebirgskunde of M. Arnold v. Escher, included in the general natural-
history account of the Canton Glarus by Professor Heer of Zurich.

1848.]| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 183

CRETACEOUS SysTEM, composed of Neocomian Limestones= Lower
Greensand; Gault; Upper Greensand, and Inoceramus Limestone or
Chalk.—In noting some features of the jurassic or oolitic rocks, as
traceable through the Alps, I have already pointed out several natural
sections which show, that the rocks which in the ascending order are
the equivalents of our oolitic series are conformably surmounted by
other limestones, the ‘‘ Neocomian”’ of foreign geologists*. In
England, as I anticipated it would prove to be, and as we now know
through the labours of Dr. Fitton and others, our lower greensand,
if not the exact equivalent, represents a large portion, at least, of the
neocomian. In the Alps this formation is so linked on to the alpme
limestone, that before it was distinguished by fossils, Professor Sedg-
wick and myself, considering it simply the uppermost member of
the great calcareous mass of the Alps, referred it with the geologists
of that day to the upper oolite. Our stratigraphical view is, indeed,
even now quite correct ; for, with a few local exceptions cited by other
authors, it seems that in the Alps, as in the Jura, there has been
a continuous series of marine deposits in which no general dissever-
ment took place, until after the completion of the supracreta-
ceous nummulitic group (see figs. 12 and 14 in subsequent pages).
M. Favre has, it is true, endeavoured recently to show, that in the
Alpine tracts around Mont Blanc, the cretaceous system (7.e. from
the neocomian up to the nummulitic zone inclusive) occurs in more
or less horizontal bands, which rest on the convoluted strata of the
jurassic age}. It is not in my power to controvert the specific
cases which that geologist has cited; but other evidences will pre-
sently demonstrate, that even in the same region there are many
proofs of the uninterrupted and conformable succession I have
spoken of, and which is so clearly seen in the Venetian Alps. No
one who has examined the mountains near Chambery in Savoy, or
the flexures and contortions to which the whole of the secondary
series has been subjected in the little Cantons of Switzerland, and
who has seen the manner in which even the supracretaceous as well
as the cretaceous beds fold over and conform to the convolutions
of the jurassic rocks beneath them, could, I think, hesitate in adopt-
ing the conclusion at which I have arrived.

Not, however, to anticipate what I wish to demonstrate by evidence,
I may im the mean time say a few words on the general structure
and characteristic features of the Alpine cretaceous system properly
so called. Its lower member, the neocomian limestone, is by far
the thickest and most important cretaceous formation. This deposit
has already been adverted to in the Venetian Alps as a hard white
limestone with many bands and geodes of flint, and numerous cha-
racteristic fossils; and it there dips under the grey, red and white
scaglia or chalk. In the Austrian Alps it is the hippuritic lime-

* See my observations on the equivalents of the neocomian at the Meeting of
the French Geological Society at Boulogne, anno 1839 (Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. vol. x.
p- 392), and my Address to the Geological Society of London, anno 1843 (Pro-
ceedings Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. iv. p. 112). I was not aware, at that time, that
Captain Ibbetson had expressed the same opinion at Neufchatel.

t See Bull. Géol. Soc. Fr. vol. iv. p. 996.

184 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SociIETy. [Dec. 13,

stone and marble, of grey, yellowish, and occasionally pink colours,
which at Untersberg near Salzburg, around the valley of Gosau, and
at numerous other places, plunges under strata of impure limestone,
mar! and sandstone, charged with fossils of the gault and chalk. In
the western parts of Savoy, however, it is more clearly divisible into
three zones than at the city of Neufchatel itself, and the diagram of
the Montagne du Chat already given, explains the fact (see fig.3).
In another section west of Chambery, which I made in company
with the Canon Chamousset, the order of the strata is exhibited in
this diagram (fig. 5). The lowest rocks visible are the Oxfordian

Fig. 5.

; m*, Marine molasse.

Tertiary { m. Freshwater limestone and conglomerate.
6. Upper Neocomian (Chama ammonia).
a*. Middle Neocomian (Spatangus retusus).
a. T.ower Neocomian (Oyster bands).
1&2. Oxfordian Jura and coral rag limestone.

limestones and shale, and the coralline limestone before adverted to
(Nos. 1 and 2) which constitute the uppermost jurassic band of this
region. On this reposes the lowest neocomian (a), which is a hard
siliceous limestone with small, sharp-plaited Ostreze, a small Terebra-
tula, Nerineea, &c. The middle neocomian (a*) consists of alterna-
tions of bluish grey marly limestone and bands of green-grained cale
grit and beds of chert, and in this band most of the fossils occur, in-
cluding the very characteristic form Spatangus retusus. The upper
division (4) is a whitish limestone, often in a state of marble, which
in Savoy contains both Hippurites and the Chama (Caprotina) am-
monia (D’Orb.).

For the most part, however, in its prolongation along the flanks of
the Savoy, and particularly in the Swiss Alps, the neocomian is divi-
sible into two great subformations only; the lower being dark-
coloured and marked by the Gryph@ea Coulont (Leym.), Rhynconella
(Terebratula) depressa (D’Orb.), and Spatangus retusus (Lamk.)
(Spatangus-kalk, Studer), and the upper being a light-coloured lime-
stone containmg the Caprotina ammonia (the Schratten-kalk of
Escher), is a sure and excellent horizon throughout the greater part
of the Alpst.

Cretaceous Greensand or Gault of the Alps. (Turriliten-Etage,
Escher.)—The largely exposed neocomian limestone of the Savoy Alps
supports, as above stated, in various escarpments, a thin zone of
dark-coloured marly limestone, occasionally freckled with grains of
chlorite, and abounding in fossils. In a collection made by my
guide, Auguste Balmat of Chamonix, at the Montagne des Fis, Pro-
fessor Pictet of Geneva recognized Ammonites cristatus (De Luc) ; 4.
Hugardianus (D’ Orb.) ; A. Mayorianus (D’ Orb.) ; A. inflatus (Sow.) ;

Cretaceous. {

+ It is worthy of note, that this upper band, as distinguished by the Caprotina
ammonia, is absent at Neufchatel, as well as the lower part of the formation.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 185

A, splendens? ; Hamites alternatus (Sow.) ; Nautilus, small species ;
Avellana incrassata (D’Orb.) ; Inoceramus sulcatus (Sow.) ; Sola-
rium ornatum? (Sow.); and a new species, together with various
Echinide (Discoidea, Galerites and Micraster, Ag.).

In laying these fossils before the Society I also present a certain
number from Sassonet, near Bonneville, and the Reposoir, which Pro-
fessor Pictet kindly gave to me. The mere view of these fossils will
convince English geologists that the rock of which I am now speak-
ing fairly represents their gault and upper greensand*. A band of
this age which I shall indicate in other natural sections i the Swiss
and Bavarian Alps containing some of these characteristic fossils, is
at intervals traceable far into the recesses of the higher mountains.

Inoceramus Limestone (Sewer-kalk), equivalent of the chalk of
Northern Europe.—When I visited the Savoy Alps, it was still to
be ascertained whether they contained any equivalent of the white
chalk of Northern Europe, which surmounting the upper greensand
was there fairly intercalated between that formation and the great
“Terrain 4 Nummulites.”” In entering that region last summer
I was indeed led to believe, from the first sections I observed around
Chambery, that there was little chance of meeting with so full a
succession of all the cretaceous strata as would exhibit any equiva-
lent of the white chalk, for there the nummulitic rocks, as above
stated, repose at once, as pointed out to me by the Canon Cha-
mousset, on neocomian limestone. Moreover, in his very last me-
moir+, Prof. Favre had described the nummulitic zone in Savoy as
independent of the cretaceous system on the one hand, and of the
overlying macigno or flysch on the other. That geologist had doubt-
less reasons for such an inference, in seeing that the nummulitic
rocks, where he examined them, reposed in one place on Jura lime-
stone and at another on neocomian ; but such reasoning in a region
which has been subjected to many dislocations, is liable to be over-
turned by the discovery in an unbroken tract of the beds supposed to
be wanting. Such, in truth, I found to be the case in a very clear
natural section exposed at Thones in Savoy, which I examined in
company with M. Pillet of Chambery in a traverse from Annecy by
the valley of Thones and the Grand Bornand to the Col du Reposoir,
and thence to the valley of the Arve.

In entering the valley of Thones from the west, I perceived, near

* The fossils given to me by Prof. Pictet from the above localities and from the
Perte du Rhone, where the same species occur,—in all three places usually in a bed
of a few feet thick only,—are A. inflatus (Sow.), 4. Candollianus (Pict.), 4. varicosus
(Sow.), 4. Mayorianus (D’Orb.), 4. Lyellii (D’Orb.), A. monile (Sow.), 4. mille-
tianus (D’Orb.), 4. regularis (Leym.), A. latidorsatus (Michelin), 4. Hugardianus
(D’Orb.), Hamites rotundus (Sow.), H. virgulatus (Brongn.), Turrilites Bergeri
(Brongn.), Avellana incrassata (D’Orb.), Inoceramus concentricus (Sow.), J. sul-
catus (Sow.), Cucullea fibrosa (D’Orb.), Arca, three species, Terebratula orni-
thocephala (Sow.), T. plicatilis (Sow.), Ceromya inflata (Ag.), with Micraster
and other Echinoderms. See M. Pictet’s excellent work, ‘‘ Description des Mol-
lusques Fossiles des grés verts des environs de Genéve,” 1"¢ livr., 1847.

tT “Sur la position relative des Alpes Suisses occidentales et des Alpes de la
Savoie.”—Bull. de la Soc. Géol. Fr. vol. iv. p. 996.

186 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 13,

Annecy le Vieux, an ascending succession from neocomian to over-
lying nummulitic rocks with Pectens; but the broken nature of the
banks at this locality, and the little time at my disposal, prevented
the tracing of the intermediate strata. On approaching the village
of Thones, it was however seen, that after several flexures the upper
strata of neocomian limestone with Caprotina ammonia, forming a
striking ridge on the north side of the valley, and having here a north
and south strike, plunged south-east at an angle of 55° to 60°, throw-
ing off on its surface the other strata exhibited in this diagram.

Fig. 6.
Sey Nay
Wa ATi
. Wak K ATONE Thones.
WEES miroir ; rN SS
SESE QQ ited oa ERE
a b CG; id weir whe & &

Jf, f. Nummulite limestone. g. Flysch.
e. Transition bed.
d. Inoceramus white limestone or chalk.
ce. Gault and greensand.
a&b6. Neocomian limestones.

On ascending to the little depression above the surface of the upper
neocomian (4), it was evident that the excavation was due to the beds
being less coherent than the hard limestone (6 & d) above and below
them. M. Pillet and myself then detected greensand terebratule,
which, when combined with the position and character of the strata,
led me to believe that this band of dark shale, impure limestone, and
sandy green marlstone (c) was the representative of the gault and
upper greensand usually exhibited in these Alps. These beds gra-
duate upwards into yellowish limestone, which is surmounted by a
cream-coloured compact limestone with flints weathermg white (d),
in which we found several specimens of Inocerami, the best-preserved
of which was the I. Cuvieri.

Here then we had under our feet a band (d) which by position and
fossils must fairly stand for the chalk. In proceeding upon the dip
this limestone is seen gradually to change its colour from white to
brown (e), and in a short space, without the slightest break or un-
conformity of the strata, the overlying mass is charged with num-
mulites. The nummulitic strata (f) becoming sandier upwards,
contain also certain Pectens, and these shelly beds are overlaid by a
zone of coralline concretionary sandy limestone, and the latter by a
strong-bedded, dark grey, white-vemed limestone. This nummulitic
group, so intimately linked on to the Inoceramus limestone (or chalk)
in its lower beds, is quite as intimately connected with the strata by
which it is overlaid, 2. e. with micaceous sandstones, marls, impure
limestones and conglomerates, which represent a portion of the
“flysch of the Alps (g).”’ These flysch beds contain certain scales
of fishes enumerated by Agassiz, and some casts of shells. They are,
in short, identical with the strata which at the desert near Chambery
had been pointed out to me as the recognized lower beds of the
* flysch” of Savoy, where they equally overlie and are equally con-
nected with bands of nummulite limestone.

In ascending the lateral longitudinal valley of the Borne, which

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 187

extends eastwards to Grand Bornand, particularly between Thones
and St. Jean de Sixt, you have on the left hand a ridge of neocomian
and cretaceous limestones overlapped by nummulitic limestone with
some of the schist of the flysch, and on the other side of the road
superior strata of the same series with hard sandstones in which con-
glomerates appear. There is no interval except that which has been
occasioned by denudation, and all the strata are conformable and
highly inclined, dipping to the S.S.E., the angle of inclination de-
creasing with the distance from the secondary limestones. At La
Sommerie, to the east of Grand Bornand and in a deep depression
under the Montagne de Four, a lignite has been partially worked,
of the same age as that of Entrevernes near Annecy, which is fairly
intercalated in the nummulitic group*.

It is therefore evident, that even in the environs of Mont Blanc,
there is a connected section, which not only exhibits the whole suc-
cession of the cretaceous rocks properly so called, but also their upe-
ward lithological transition into beds with nummulites ; and further,
that the latter are inseparable from the overlying flysch. The inde-
pendence, therefore, suggested by M. Favre does not exist in this

art of Savoy where the natural original relations have not been
effaced by dislocations.

Now, these nummulitic and “ flysch”’ strata, which by much more
developed natural sections in Switzerland, as well as by a consideration
of their fossils, will be proved to be a natural group, distinct from, yet
intimately and conformably linked on to the cretaceous system, are
copiously exhibited on the summits of some of the highest and least
accessible of the calcareous mountains to the north-east, north, and
west of Mont Blanc. Thus, rising to vast altitudes, they cap the
Dent du Midi and Diableretz, the former 9849, the latter 10,050
French feet above the sea. The fossils of the summit of the latter
have been long known to geologists, and besides Nummulites globu-
lus (Leym.), the N. Biaritzana (D’ Arch.) or regularis (Riittimeyer),
are the Cerithium diaboli (Brongn.), C. elegans (Desh.), C. poly-
meres (Leym.), together with dAmpullaria, Chemnitzia, and the Me-
lania costellata (Lamk.), three of which are undistinguishable from
species of the Paris basin.

In his admirable description of the rocks composing the summit
of the Diableretz, M. Brongniart not only enumerated nummulites
and several other fossils, and also indicated the intercalation with
them of a band of combustible in the condition of anthracite, but
he further justly reasoned on the nature of the shells and on the

* This coal of Entrevernes is noticed by Bakewell, Travels in the Tarentaise,
vol. iv. p. 186, with woodcut. This author mentions Cytherex and Cerithia, but
does not allude to Nummulites. It was also visited by the members of the meet-
ing of the Geological Society of France which assembled at Chambery, when MM.
Chamousset, De Vernenil, Sismonda and Viquenel are reported to have found
tertiary shells associated with it. See Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. 2nd series, vol. i. p. 214.
Coal of this age also occurs in the summit of the Diableretz (see next page) and
at Pernant on the Arve, where it was observed by Prof. Necker in both situations
associated with nummulites. For the latter position see Bibi. Un. de Genéve,
tom. xxxili. p. 90.

188 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETY. [Dec. 13,

whole of the evidences as disposing him to view these rocks as
being of about the same age as those of the lower strata of the Paris
basin. He well distinguished the nummulitic and carbonaceous black
limestones from those of the adjacent mountains in which Ammo-
nites, Hamites and other secondary greensand fossils occurred, and
was only disposed to doubt his conclusions by the very ancient litho-
logical aspect of the overlying schists and limestones. Such was
the influence of mineral character in those days*! Now, however,
that representatives of every band of the upper secondary or creta-
ceous rocks are known to exist in these Alps of Savoy and the Val-
lais, including even the equivalent of the chalk, we see how sound
were the first conclusions of M. Brongniart as to the true tertiary
age of the black nummulitic limestones of the Diableretz.

Intending to explore the relations of these supracretaceous strata
in the Swiss Alps, where the labours of the geologists Studer and
Escher de Linth had already succeeded in developing to a great ex-
tent their order, I abandoned further researches on this pot in Savoy
and the Vallais, being satisfied with having there detected a key to
the order of superposition which had escaped previous observers. I
further presumed that the limestone with Inocerami, which I had
there observed to be intercalated between the greensand and the
nummulite rocks of Savoy, would prove to be the same as the Sewer-
kalk of the Swiss geologists, and future researches completely esta-
blished this to be the fact.

Nummulitie Rocks and Flysch of Switzerland (‘* Macigno Alpin” of
Studer), with their relations to the subjacent cretaceous rocks. -

Having touched upon the cretaceous and overlying masses of the
Savoy Alps, I now proceed to describe in greater detail a series of
sections specially illustrative of the sections I made chiefly either in
the company of Professor Briinner of Berne or in that of M. Escher
de Linth of Zurich, in the cantons of Lucerne, Underwald, Schwyz,
Glarus, Appenzell and St. Gallen. In so doing I shall necessarily
often refer to the underlying cretaceous rocks. As the general view
of succession has been already given, it is deemed more desirable, for
the better understanding of the subject, that the whole series of strata
in each tract which are physically connected with the nummulitic zone
should be collectively described, rather than first enumerate all the
cretaceous rocks in different districts and then revert many times to
the same place to describe the supracretaceous deposits. This would
entirely frustrate my object of showing in consecutive sections the inti-

* “ J’hésiterais done trés peu (says M. Brongniart), malgré la position de la
roche calcaire qui renferme ces fossiles, malgré sa compacité, sa couleur noire, sa
stratification concordant avec le calcaire ancien qui est au dessous; j’hésiterais
peu, dis-je, a la regarder comme de méme formation que le calcaire grossier de
sédiment supérieur, si elle n’était recouverte par des roches qui offrent de nouveau
le caractére d’homogénéité et de compacité qu’on attribue au calcaire alpin,” &e.
(Mémoire sur les Terrains de Sédiment supérieur, p. 44.) These overlying blackish,
siliceous and micaceous sublamellar impure limestones, and compact scaly lime-
stones with white veins, are parts of the “ flysch.”

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 189

mate connexion of some rocks which must, I conceive, be considered
tertiary, with others which are unquestionably of secondary age.

And here geologists will recollect, that when Professor Sedgwick
and myself wrote upon the Austrian Alps, the structure of the inte-
rior and flanks of the Swiss Alps had not been illustrated by Studer,
Escher, and others. M. Studer had then, it is true, published a
portion of his excellent work on the Molasse, but his first attempt
at a classification of the older formations* had not appeared. Good
even as that effort then was, it now requires much revision to bring
it up to the state of our present knowledge; and so must it ever be
in so complicated and difficult a chaint.

On attending the meeting of the Swiss naturalists at Soleure (after
I had passed through Savoy), I was fortunate enough to hear a me-
moir read on Nummulites and other Foraminifera by M. Riittimeyer
of Berne. On a previous occasion Professor Briinner had described
some of these forms as well as their geological position t ; but desirous
that the purely zoological portion of this labour should be undertaken
by a professed naturalist, he engaged his friend M. Riittimeyer to
join him, and the first result was the memoir I have alluded to, which
will be followed by the publication of a jomt work. In pursuing my
inquiries I induced Prof. Briimner to accompany me in excursions into
parts of the little cantons which he had not explored.

In the Beattenberg near Thun a band of coal is associated with the
nummulitic deposit, 7. e. in the strata beneath the flysch. This coal,
which is now extensively used in the manufacture of gas at Berne, is
therefore precisely in the same geological horizon as the coal of En-
trevernes near Annecy, of Grand Bornand in Savoy, and of the Dia-
bleretz. In this respect there is indeed a close analogy between the
northern and southern flanks of the Alps; for, as will hereafter be
shown, coal is pretty largely extracted from the lower strata of the
nummulitic rocks of the Vicentine, between Vicenza and Recoaro, and
at Monte Bolca, in a region where these deposits uBquessonally overlie
everything cretaceous.

The nummulitic-rocks of the Beattenberg (f) at once repose
on the neocomian limestones (0), and are surmounted by flysch (g),

* See Transactions of the Geological Society of France, 1834.

+ No one is more aware than M. Studer of the necessity of frequent revisions
and corrections of ail the older sketches or attempts to map geologically any por-
tion of the Alps before the organic remains were developed. In reference to his
own small map of the region around Berne, he candidly explained to me, that
the legend attached to it must now be much changed. —See Trans. Geol. Soc. Fr.
vol. iii. p. 379.

t See Professor Briinner’s memoir, “ Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Flysch und
Nummuliten Formation,” Mittheilungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft zu
Bern, 1847. In this memoir Professor Briinner compares the nummulitic strata
to the north of the lake of Thun with those of the Diableretz, the Nummulites
globulus (Leym.) being common to both. In both are species of Cerithia, Chem-
nitzia, &c., whilst the Neritina Fischeri (Briinner) of the Thun district is scarcely
to be distinguished from the N. lineolata (Deshayes) of the Paris basin.

_ M. Rittimeyer has since published an extract from his work in the Bibliotheque
Universelle de Genéve.

VOL. V.—PART I. Ve

190 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

(fig. 7). In the countries, however, to which Professor Briimner and
myself extended our researches, we perceived the relations of the de-

Fig. 7 (dy Professor Briinner).

Gemmen Habkheren
Roth-horn. Alp. Beattenberg. valley.

Molasse. Fault.

posit to the subjacent rocks to be much more copious and clear than
what he had previously known, and more in harmony with my section
at Thones in Savoy. Finally, meeting M. Escher de Linth, I found
that this excellent field-geologist had (with the exception of a peculiar
band of passage on which I lay great stress) come to the same con-
clusion as myself concerning the true position of the nummulitic zone,
as being invariably above the inoceramus limestone or representative
of the chalk.

The great zone of limestone, containing Nummulites, Orbitolites
and Operculinze, with certain shells, and surmounted by vast accu-
mulations of ‘flysch,’ ¢.e. impure limestone, sandstone and schist,
extends from the Beattenberg and Habkheren to Alpnach, trending
parallel to the major axis of the Swiss Alps, viz. from W.S.W. to
E.N.E. It is, in fact, an elevated trough between the great cal-
careous chains of Hofgant, Sernberg and Pilatus on the N.W., and
the ridges which flank the lakes of Brientz and Sarnen, the Stanz-
horn forming the south-eastern “ pendant” to the Mount Pilatus.
The depression occupied by the Alpnach branch of the Lake of the
four cantons has been essentially formed in the softer schists or
marly shale and sandstones of the ‘‘ flysch”’ deposits, whilst the hard
calcareous rocks on the flanks of the trough constitute the Pilatus on
the one hand and the Stanzhorn on the other. I do not pretend to
have so examined Mount Pilatus as to be able to give a detailed de-
scription of its structure and relations. I ascended it from Alpnach
to the south flank of the Thumli-horn, and thence by a valley, leaving
the Eck-horn on the right hand, to the summit, called the Esel, about
6000 feet above the sea, devoting the short time at my disposal to
the examination of the nummulitic. strata and the rocks on which
they rest. The chief masses of the mountain are certainly composed
of upper neocomian limestone (with Caprotina ammonia); and be-
tween the Thumli-horn on the one hand, and the Rustiger-wald on the
other, I perceived a brownish sandy limestone which strongly con-
trasted with the white neocomian limestones of the flanking moun-
tains. I saw no traces of gault, upper greensand, or inoceramus lime-
stone, but judging from the analogies on the eastern shore of the lake
of Lucerne, hereafter to be described, it.is probable that such may be
found on one of the unbroken shoulders’ (if such there be) of this

1848.]| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 19]

remarkably bold and highly dislocated mountain. From a spot near
the Esel summit, where I observed nummulites*, I perceived that
there was an ascending section, with a rapid dip to the 8.8.E., through
beds of impure limestone into highly ferruginous strata, which in parts
became a strikingly green calcareous grit (in parts small pisolitic), in
which were casts of Pectens and other shells, similar to those associated
with nummulites in many other parts of Switzerland. These green
sandstones and calc grits there dipped rapidly under a vast thickness
of schists, micaceous sandstones and bastard limestones; in short,
under the “flysch.” It was thus clear that the nummulitic and
flysch rocks, though perfectly united and conformable within them-
selves, and clearly forming one natural division, were at this high
gorge unconformably enclosed between two walis of the older neo-
comian limestone, as exhibited in this diagram. In my rapid survey

Fig. 8.

Gorge east of Mt. Pilatus.

g. Flysch of great thickness.
j. Ferruginous greensand with Pectens (part of the nummulitic group).
6. Neocomian limestone (upper).

I did not visit the adjacent flanks of the mountain in which a sequence
might be found ; and I have only to observe, that in the great masses
of finely laminated marly and sandy schists which descend rapidly on
the face of the older limestones into the lake, I found some of the
same small foraminifera which MM. Briimner and Riittimeyer have
recognized in the environs of Thun.

On the whole, however, the nummulitic and flysch rocks of the
Pilatus have the appearance of having been upheaved in a highly
broken and elevated trough, the sides of which rest on the edges of
the neocomian limestone, which latter presents to the north one of
the finest mural precipices along the whole outer edge of the Alps, to
the lower and undulating country of molasse and nagelflue, which
here range over the canton of Lucerne.

The eastern end of the lake of Alpnach is almost barred in by a
tongue of land, composed of subconical and undulating hills, which

* The species of nummulite I found in the Pilatus was small, but it is well known
that large forms of this genus are there also present. In reference to these
organic remains, I ascertained, when in the company of Professor Briinner, how
much the species of Nummulites and other Foraminifera differ in the same region
at different localities, and yet, as will hereafter be seen, the very same character-
istic species reappear at spots very widely distant from each other.

192 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

having been examined by M. Brimner, proved to form a very instruct-
ive trough, as expressed in figs. 9 and 10, the lowest rocks on either
side bemg the upper neocomian (4), surmounted by the Sewer-kalk
(d) or equivalent of the inoceramus limestone, and this by a basin of
nummulitic limestone and flysch (f, g)*.

Fig. 9.

Burgen.

g. Flysch.

f. Nummulite limestone.
d. Sewer-kalk or chalk.
5. Neocomian (upper).

The lowest of these diagrams, fig. 10, represents the general rela-
tions at the south-western end of the promontory, between Stansted
and Stanz, where the nummulitic rocks are squeezed up, whilst fig. 9,
on the strike of the same strata to the W.N.W., shows how the basin
of nummulitic and flysch rocks expands and becomes regular.

The Orbitolites, which occupy beds of considerable thickness in the
mountains of Ralligstock and Beattenberg, near Thun, are here con-
tained in a green calcareous sandstone of a few feet thickness only,
whilst the Nummulites millecaput (Boubée), or polygyrata (Desh.),
is much developed, and seeming, according to Briimner, to replace in
this spot the small N. rotularis (Desh.), or N. globulus (Leym.).
The first-mentioned large and striking species, which is so extensively
distributed over the globe, reappears im many other tracts to the
north-east, as will be hereafter detailed+. owt

* When M. Briinner examined this promontory he had not had his attention
called to the thin band of secondary greensand or gault which we afterwards found
so usually intercalated (as in Savoy) between the upper neocomian and the inoce-
ramus limestones ; and in a rapid examination, looking chiefly to the great relations
and general symmetry of the trough, a few feet of greensand may he thinks have
escaped him. (See fig. 10.)

+ In my tour I necessarily used the specific names given to the Nummulites and
other Foraminifera of the Swiss Alps by Riittimeyer and Briinner; but on com-
paring the forms I collected, M. D’Archiac, to whom I referred them, identi-
fies severa] of them with species previously named and described in France. Thus,
whether the following names, as given in Italics, be finally adopted or not, their
equivalents being here mentioned, no misunderstanding can arise. The fact which

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS, 193

In following our formation into the valley which extends from Brun-
nen to Schwyz, on the eastern shores of the lake of Lucerne, we found
that the intermediate succession between the neocomian and the
flysch became much more regular and distinct. Situated between
the Rigi (that grand accumulation of nagelflue and molasse) on the
one side, and the great masses of contorted secondary rocks of Altorf
on the other, the valley extending from Brunnen to Sewen and Schwyz
is another of these troughs, the sides of which are composed of the
secondary limestone, dipping, on both banks of the river, under the
nummulitic and shelly deposits. On the northern side the sym-
metrical order of succession is very clear, as exhibited in this dia-
gram (fig.11). Commencing the ascending section on the edge of

Fig. )1.

Relations of Cretaceous and Nummulitic rocks at Sewen.

e. Passage beds obscured.
d. Sewer-kalk (Inoceramus limestone).
Cretaceous.< ¢. Gault and upper greensand.
6. Upper Neocomian limestone.
a. Lower Neocomian.

Flysch (denuded).

&.
Eocene. FE Nummulit ic rocks.

} Lower greensand.

the lake of Lowerz to the north of Sewen, the dark-coloured lower
neocomian limestone and shale (a) is overlaid by the light-coloured,
crystalline, thick-bedded upper neocomian limestone (6), in which
we detected not only numerous sections of the Caprotina ammonia,
but also Hippurites Blumenbachi, with corals and Echini. Imme-
diately above these is a narrow depression (c), in which are softer
beds, the equivalents of the gault and upper greensand, with small
ammonites and other fossils*.

The next mass which succeeds is the Sewen limestone of the Swiss
geologists. This sewer-kalk (d) thus resting on upper secondary

is of paramount importance is, that the following species occur in the south of
France, the Pyrenees and the Alps, thus identifying the group :—

. Nummulites millecaput, Boubée=N. polygyratus, Desh.

planospira, Boubée=N. assilinoides, Rit.

Biaritzana, D’ Archiac=N. atacica, Leym., N. acuta, Sow., and
N. regularis, Rit.

globosa, Riit. (var. Biaritzana, D’ Arch.) = N. obtusa, Joly et Leym.

rotularis, Desh.=N. globulus, Leym.

placentula, Desh.=N. intermedia, D’ Arch.

levigata (Lam.).

. Orbitolites discus, Rit.

patellaris, Briinner.

stellaris, Briinner = Calcarina stellaria, D’ Arch.

Operculina near to O. ammonea, Leym.

CONE Nok oto

* Several fossils of the greensand have been found here by Studer and Escher.
The latter geologist was we believe the first to name the overlying limestone Sewer-
kalk, and to show how a similar limestone occupied a similar place in the canton
of Appenzell, and on the lake of Wallenstadt.

194 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 13,

greensand, is a whitish grey rock, in which limestone of conchoidal
fracture and light colour, forms small and flattened concretions in a
light grey earthy base, or rather the shale of this colour wraps in
thin coatings over the calcareous undulations, the whole splitting
into flagstones six to eight inches thick, and occasionally into much
stronger beds. Like the greensand and neocomian limestone on
which it rests, this rock seems here to be the exposed portion of a
dome, which, as far as can be seen, dips to the N.E., E., S.E., and
S.S.E. To the east it is denuded along the bank of the little river,
and is extensively quarried as a building-stone. We were fortunate
enough to discover (we believe for the first time) Inocerami in this
sewer-kalk, fragments of which fossils are to be detected by those who
will carefully look for them, even from the lowest beds which rest upon
the greensand, to the upper portion of the quarries. The dominant
species (two or three specimens of which I brought home) seems to be
the Inoceramus or Catillus Cuviert. In following these beds as they
fold over to the S.S.E., and where they descend into the Muotta-thal
at about 25°, there is a hidden space of about fifty paces only, in
which the succession is not observed (e), but they are then succeeded
in perfectly conformable apposition by beds (f) of sandy greenish-
grained limestone, abundantly charged with nummulites, chiefly the
Nummulina planospira or assilinoides, which alternate with marly
shale, which becomes sandier and more flag-like upwards, and are
finally surmounted by sandy marlstone charged with Orbitolites,
Pectens, Xe.

The broad valley watered by the Nieten and the Muotta streams
has evidently been excavated in the soft beds of flysch and sandstone
superior to the nummulite bands; for after traversing to Ingolboldt,
on the external slope of the opposite mountains, the first strata met
with at that village, are the very same beds of sandy rotten marlstone
with large Orbitolites, Pectens, and casts of other fossils, which there
occur in highly inclined strata dipping to the north, and thus form
a portion of the opposite side of a trough, as seen in the general section
(fig. 12). The flank of the ridges extending from Brunnen up the
left bank of the Muotta is much obscured by woods, fallen cliffs, and
vegetation ; but there are spots in which portions of the nummulitic
rock are also seen to be underlaid by the sewer-kalk, greensand, and
by upper and lower neocomian, the latter forming the nucleus of the

reat dome-shaped calcareous mountain Morschach, on the east side
of the Altorf branch of the Lake of the four cantons, immediately to
the south of Brunnen (fig. 12) *.

Reserving for another part of this memoir the consideration of the
enormous flexures and breaks to which this whole series of rocks,
together with the jurassic limestones, have been subjected at the upper
extremity of the Altorf lake, I would now merely remark, that the wood-
cuts figs. 1] and 12, the one detailed, the other general, clearly indi-
eate that the Sewen limestone (d), with its Inocerami, lying between

* Near the spot called Gumpisch, this lower neocomian dark limestone is loaded

with Gryphea Couloni, Rhynconella (Terebratula) depressa (D’Orb.), and Spa-
tangus retusus.

MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 195

Syssikon.

ose
5S
Vee

Morschach.

“Fpyoq
-[oSuy

yeu
-ByJOn ji

*UIMIG

os
—
rr: a

=
WSN
Sse
See
Ss

The Rigi.

N.N.W.

a. Lower Neocomian.
o. Oxfordian Jura.

d. Sewer-kalk (or chalk),
ec. Greensand and gault.
5b. Upper Neocomian.

Jf. Nummulite limestone.

g. Flysch.

m. Nagelflue (younger).

the upper greensand (c) and the nummulite
rocks (/’), is precisely in the same place as the
inoceramus limestone of Thones in Savoy
before described, and that both are clearly re-
presentatives of the white chalk of Northern
Europe.

This sewer-kalk rises up on nearly all sides
of the beautiful valley of Schwyz. I refer to
it the grand red and white peaks of the My-
then*, which overlook the town of Schwyz,
so well known to all lovers of the picturesque.
These masses of red and mottled grey and
white limestone strongly resemble the scaglia
or Italian equivalent of the chalk, and have
no sort of resemblance to any other known
limestone in the Swiss Alps. They also
clearly overlie all the older limestones, ju-
rassic and neocomian; I therefore unhesi-
tatingly refer them to the white chalk ; and
the more so because they are linked on to
the superior nummulitic and flysch forma-
tions. On the northern flank of the smaller
peak, in ascending to the Hacken pass, we
crossed over masses of schist and impure
limestone with white veins, which formed the
external envelope of the slope, and next over
green-grained calciferous grits with Nummu-
lites planospira, N.rotularis, N. Biaritza-
na, and Orbitolites discus; the thick shells
of the latter resembling little layers of calc-
spar; but we also detected a specimen of
Inoceramus in the fragments of limestone
which had fallen from the cliffs. The up-
heaval, however, of the Mythen has been ac-
companied by so much dislocation around it,
and such enormous subsidences have taken
place on the taluses, that no regularity of
succession can be detected; nor could the
above order be stated if the adjacent rocks
when in their normal positions (as before
cited in fig. 11) had not afforded us a true
key to the structure of the tract. There
is, in fact, just the same appearance of a
general inversion of the formations on the

* We passed the Mythen on the north by the
Hacken pass in our route to Einsiedeln and returned
by Brunnen and the Holzeck pass. The latter is
the grandest scene, and is the point from whence
the summit is alone accessible.

196 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [| Dec. 13,

eastern shore of the lake of Lowerz, as on its western banks. The
great accumulations of nagelflue and molasse of the Rossberg in
the one case, like those of the Rigi on the other, instead of dipping
away from the Alpine centre, plunge towards it; the younger ter-
tiary rocks seeming to be the oldest by their order of superposition ;
whilst the nummulitic and flysch formation is broken and squeezed
up against the cretaceous rocks of the Mythen. In stating my
belief that the swmmits of the Mythen are of the age of the chalk,
I would not, however, infer that the lower part of the mountain is
also of this age ; for at the eastern face, when examined from Brun-
nen, in the valley leading to Eimsiedeln, it presents a great succes-
sion of underlying massive terraces, the lowest of which are highly
altered, siliceous rauchwacke limestone, with partial dolomitic veins
not unlike the “cargneule”’ of Savoy. In the vertical faces of the
limestone beneath the red peaks, the lines of stratification are ob-
scurely perceptible, seeming to pass to the 8.S.W.; whilst the whole
is traversed by highly inclined joints resembling a rude cleavage, the
planes of which plunge 70° to the N.N.W. As this mountain is to
a great extent inaccessible, and as the lower portions of it seem to
have undergone great modification, it is one of the countless examples
which the Alps offer, of the difficulty of defining with precision the
downward limits of formations.

Nummulite and Flysch Rocks of the Environs of Einsiedeln.

Vast masses of flysch* lie between the Mythen and the valley of
Einsiedeln ; and to the west and south of that town, terraces of
nummulitic limestone rise out from beneath the chief masses of such
flysch, and are seen, at the same time, to be strictly united with
them.

I have already stated that in Savoy, the only passage from the
chalk upwards with which I am acquainted, shows a gradual change
in the colour and texture of the rocks from the white limestone with
inocerami into the brown sandy nummulitic rock ; there being there,
as far as I could see, but one band charged with nummulites. Again,
in the section near Sewen, as we have seen, there is an apparent passage
between the uppermost beds of the inoceramus rock and the nummu-
litic strata above them.

In the environs of Einsiedeln, however, the thickness of the lower
portion of the nummulitic group increases, and in subsequent pages
it will be shown how such development becomes still more striking
in the canton of Appenzell, and in the Bavarian Alps.

The Schwendberg to the west of Einsiedeln consists of several but-
tresses of hard brownish nummulitic limestone dipping south (fig.13).

* T need not repeat the mineral description of the flysch, except where it offers
some new features. The generic word applies to the group associated with and
overlying the nummulitic rocks, which is chiefly composed of thin-bedded, impure,
dark grey limestone with white veins, schists, both argillaceous and calcareous,
marls, micaceous sandstones, sometimes green-grained, but more frequently di-
versified by small black grains, with fucoids and a few casts of shells and fishes’
teeth in its lower parts.

1848.| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 197

In the lower mass, composed of a greenish limestone (/'), nothing
but nummulites are visible, chiefly the NV. millecaput (Boubée) ; then
come greyish blue bands (/*) with other species of nummulites ; next
a considerable thickness of marls, sands, &c. (flysch), surmounted by
strong reddish and greyish nummulitic limestones (7%). In short,
from the bottom to the top of the nummulitic portion of the series,
there were intercalations of strata having all the characters of flysch.
The great overlying mass (g), however, has been alone styled such by
Swiss geologists, and it here spreads in vast thickness over the adja-
cent mountains.

N.N.W. Fig. 13. S.S.E.

Schwendberg.

Valley of
Alp-thal.

~>> = > ~~
SS S > SS
~ SS Sc SS owwsS
Qa ~ SSS S S
<SS = SS SS S S SS =
SS S ECO
= SSS SS AUTVws
~ SS SS SS ~
~ ES WS:
~ S .

( Ag (f3) g
m. Upper molasse and nagelflue.

g. Flysch.
= { Jf. Nummulite limestone alternating with flysch.

>
b>

w\. “he === rene See Ae bs AY AAT ~\A* VA. oe SS SS
mm m Fault.

In ascending the little valley of the Sihl from Einsiedeln the same
relations of ridges of nummulitic limestones and flysch are still more
clearly exposed to the east and west of the village of Gros, where they
have also a dip 8S.S.E. The Sattel mountain on the east side of this
valley exposes on its flanks three or four prominent bands of the num-
mulitic rock, all dipping to the S.S.E., separated from each other as
well as overlaid by considerable thicknesses of flysch (¢. e. of sand-
stone, limestone, shale, and schist).

The lower nummulitic limestones visible are dark grey, reddish,
and greenish grained, in which occur the large echinide of Kressenberg,
together with ostreze, small nummulites, and large orbitolites. Then
intervenes a great mass of shale and sandstone, followed by a second
nummulitic limestone and another zone of flysch, and that again by
a third nummulitic limestone. In this last-mentioned mass I was
much struck with the strong coincidences between some of the coarser
nummulitic limestones and the limestone of the so-called “ flysch ”’
of many parts of the Alps. (They were, in fact, precisely the same
thin-bedded, dark grey, sandy limestones with white veins, and occa-
sionally with so many grains of green earth as to become a green cal-
careous grit ; the only difference being that the flysch was void of the
nummulites and fossils which distinguish the other. These strata,
covered by thick beds of grey limestone, pass upwards through shale
into fine micaceous flaggy grey sandstone, and thence up into the
great series of the so-called ‘flysch.’ A similar intercalation and
association is indeed quite as instructively seen just above the village
of Gros on the west side of the valley.

The chief fossils of the nummulitic bands of this district are the
Nummulites planospira (Boub.) or assilinoides (Riitt.) ; N. mille-
caput or polygyrata (Desh.) ; N. Biaritzana (D’ Arch.) or regularis
(Riitt.) ; Operculina, apparently a large new species; Orditolites
discus, and O. parmula; Pectens, large Ostreze, and some few uni-

198 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 13,

valves, and occasionally the large Conoclypus conoideus and other
Echinoderms that characterise the deposits of Sonthofen, Kressenberg,
and other places in Bavaria and Austria.

All the dips of the rock-masses in this tract are inverted ; for the
molasse and nagelflue of Einsiedeln being the eastern prolongation of
the Rigi and Rossberg equally plunge 8.S.E., and seem absolutely
to be overlaid by its older neighbour the nummulite limestone and
‘flysch ;”’ the latter formation beimg in its turn so thrown over that
its younger member lies against or dips under the secondary rocks.
In this manner the oldest portion of the nummulitie group is in con-
tact with the tertiary conglomerates (fig. 13), which I shall hereafter
prove are the upper part of a great series containing some marine
shells of existing species !

Nummulitie Rocks and Fish Slates of Glarus.—Nummulitic lime-
stones reappear in broken troughs at various other points throughout
the little canton of Schwyz; but m following them into the canton
Glarus, the associated strata, or rather the beds immediately over-
lying the zone characterized by nummulites, presents a striking zoo-
logical feature. The bands of flysch above the nummulites, indeed,
as in many other places, contain fishes’ scales and teeth, particularly
certain dark schists and marls of Savoy and various parts of Switzer-
land. In Glarus, however, and notably near Engi in the valley of the
Sernft, where these black beds have undergone much induration,
they are largely quarried under the name of Glarus slates, and
are well known to collectors for the numerous fossil fishes they
contain. On visiting the quarries I found them totally void of any
slaty cleavage ; the so-called slates being true calcareous flagstones
with a few diagonal veins of white cale spar. They dip away 30°
and 40° E.S.E. from the face of the ridge of the most ancient rock
of this tract, usually called the Sernft conglomerate. At the spot on
the west side of the valley, where the fish beds are quarried, there
is no visible relation to any nummulitic rock ; but the same calcareous
flagstones with white veins, and which are clearly one of the nume-
rous varieties of “flysch,” can be followed up the valley of the Sernft
to heights of 1000 feet and more above the water-course ; and to the
east of Elm they are associated with and overlie strong bands of
nummulitic limestone. This position was clearly seen by M. Escher
and myself as we ascended from Elm to the high pass of Martin’s-
loch. In treating of some of the contortions, inversions, and breaks of
the Alps, I shall have occasion hereafter to return to the considera-
tion of this very remarkable tract ; but whether the strata be there
overthrown ‘‘ en masse”? or not, has nothing to do with the present
question ; for the calcareous flagstones identical with the fish beds
quarried as Glarus slates, and which are in truth a direct prolonga-
tion of them, are fairly dovetailed between two courses of nummulite
limestone, in the lowest of which I perceived the large Nummulites
millecaput, and in the other a greenish-graimed deep-coloured sili-
ceous limestone with another and smaller nummulite, both of which
occur in numerous places in association with all the other fossils of
the group and regularly overlying the cretaceous rocks.

1848.| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 199

These Glarus slates were formerly considered, from their mineral
character, to be of high antiquity, and great was the surprise of most
geologists when in the work of Agassiz the species of fishes contained
in them were classed with so new a formation as the chalk. I now go
farther, and assert that, by geological position and association with
the nummulitic strata, they are certainly eocene, and possibly not of
older date than the lowest portion of the London clay. Nor is there
any evidence in the characters of the ichthyolites of Glarus to con-
travene this inference, but on the contrary much to sustain it. The
Paleorhynchum, Acanus, Podocys, &c., are, it is true, extinct genera,
but they are also peculiar and unknown in any cretaceous deposits ;
whilst the Fistularia, Vomer, Osmerus, and Clupzea* have not only
never been found in any secondary rock, but are absolutely living
genera. Even then, if we had no geological or stratigraphical evidence,
one might be fairly led, by the identifications of Agassiz alone, to
conclude that a formation including smelts and herrings (there being
three species of the latter) was of tertiary age, by the approach of
its fauna to the present order of things. The paleontological in-
ference is further sustained by these slates or flagstones containing
the bird Protornis Glariensis, Herman v. Meyer, and the tortoise
Chelonia Knorru, Her. v. Meyer.

In fact there need be no more difficulty in viewing these fish beds
of Glarus as tertiary, than the black carbonaceous hard limestones
and schists and flysch of the Diableretz.

Nummulite and Flysch Rocks in the Grisons.—M. Studer has
shown that large portions of flysch in the Grisons have been converted
into a crystalline gneissose rock ; but I would now state, that whatever
be their irregularities of position in the interior of that canton, and
to whatever metamorphisms they may there have been subjected,
they unfold themselves with symmetry and regularity in their nor-
mal order between the valley of the Rhine and the baths of Pfeffers.
In the gorge of the Tamina, to the south of these baths, a clear suc-
cession is seen through Oxfordian, Neocomian, and upper cretaceous
rocks, which latter pass under nummulite rocks; the baths being
situated in vast masses of flysch interlaminated with nummulites, as
seen in a section which I made in company with M. Escher. Here
again many of the black flags are absolutely identical in mineral
characters with the so-called slates of Glarus, and although no entire
ichthyolites have been discovered in them, they contain the teeth
of fishes.

Sections of the Cretaceous and Nummulitic Systems on the north
side of the Lake of Wallenstadt, and in the Hoher Sentis of Appen-
zell.—Whilst the section of the Tamina and the baths of Pfeffers show
the ascending order from the cretaceous rocks up into the nummulitic
limestone and flysch, by far the largest and clearest exhibitions of the
whole succession in Switzerland are displayed on the plateaus on the
north bank of the lake of Wallenstadt+, and in the environs of the

* See Agassiz, Poissons Fossiles, General Table, tom. i. p. xxxiii, where forty-
two species of fishes are named.
t+ When in the Tyrol with M. von Buch in the previous autumn, he assured me

S.S.E

Lyskamm.

Fig. 14+.

N.N.W.

The Speer,
6000 feet.

Freshwater
molasse

Lake of
Wallenstadt.

Freshwater =

fdcba

4, Upper Jura (Oxfordian).
3. Middle Jura.

2. Lower Jura.

Jurassic. {

d. Inoceramus limestone (chalk).

c. Greensand.

Cretaceous. l

molasse.

Inf. Oolite. Lias ?

1, Sernft conglomerate.

still loftier Hoher Sentis and the high tracts
of Appenzell ; a district which is rendered
classical in geology by the recent labours of
M. Arnold Escher de Linth. We have there
not only that series which has been already
so much dwelt upon, from a low horizon in
the Jura limestones through the neocomian
to the cretaceous series including the moce-
ramus limestone, but also a very complete
exhibition of nummulite rock and flysch.
Seeing that M. Escher had so fully made
himself master of all the dislocations as well
as all the regular successions both of the
plateau of Wildhaus and of the Hoher Sentis,
I could only pretend to offer one, I trust not
unimportant addition to his valuable contri-
butions, by bringing to his notice a band
between the inoceramus and nummulite lime-
stones, which I consider to be of value in de-

- monstrating a lithological transition from the

6. Upper Neocomian,
a. Lower Neocomian

ey
ad
=)
i]
&

_f. Nummulite limestone.

g. Flysch.

Eocene. {

cretaceous system, properly so defined, to that
which overlies it. I also urged him to adopt

: my method of classifying the nummulitic and

flysch rocks as lower tertiary, and no longer
to include them in the cretaceous series*.
In travelling from Mells near Sargans to
Wallenstadt and Wesen, a clear ascending
order of the strata is visible, from the

5 “ Sernft”’ conglomerate (the most ancient

rock of the region) at Mells (fig. 14). This

by reference to his well-fiiled note-book, that this
would be found the grandest and clearest of all the
Swiss sections in explaining the true overlying rela-
tions of the flysch and nummulites to the cretaceous
rocks,

* In the tabular view of his memoir entitled ‘Ge-
birgskunde,’ appended to the description of the can-
ton Glarus by Professor Heer, M. Escher gives the fol-
lowing names in ascending order of all the strata of the
“ Kreide-bildungen”:—1. Spatangus kalk (Studer)
or Lower Neocomian. 2. Schratten kalk or Upper
Neocomian. 3. Turriliten-Etage or Gault. 4. Sewer-
kalk or chalk. 5. Nummuliten Etage. 6. Flysch
and Dachschiefer von Plattenberg.

+ Although this diagram, from the pencil of
M. Escher, exhibits a thin course of it only, the zone
of gault or upper greensand exists in full force around
the Sentis. In the valley of the Rhine, and extend-
ing to Eichberg, it appears in insulated hammocks
charged with Turrilites, Znoceramus sulcatus and
other fossils, which with many forms gathered from
the different overlying rocks around the Hoher Sentis,
Prof. Brunner and myself examined in the rich mu-
seum of the Rev. Mr, Rechsteiner of Eichberg.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 201

conglomerate (1), which is in parts a purple and green spotted glossy
schist, in parts a millstone grit, passing into a conglomerate with
pebbles of white quartz in a talcose base, dips to the north and passes
under the limestones which form the great escarpment of the chain
called “ Kurfiirsten.”” In that escarpment the Lower Jura and Ox-
fordian formations (2, 3, 4) are surmounted by the three members
before cited of the cretaceous system, viz. neocomian with its two
divisions (a and 6), gault or upper greensand (c) and inoceramus
limestone (sewer-kalk) (d). The same overlying succession is seen
on the northern shore of the lake of Wallenstadt, the mountains in
which are a western prolongation of the Kurftirsten. Above all this
and to the north is the upland depression or trough of Wildhaus, in
which the inoceramus limestone (d) is covered by nummulite lime-
stone and flysch (fand g). The latter deposits rise up to the north
of Wildhaus in a basin-shape with a reversed or southern dip, and
then equally repose on inoceramus limestone, which is succeeded by
the gault and neocomian limestone (a and 6), the latter culminating
in the chief summits of the Hoher Sentis. That mountain group,
the highest points of which are near 8000 English feet above the sea,
and which forms by far the most remarkable promontory along the
whole outer zone of the Alps, is highly instructive in the full deve-
lopment of all the cretaceous rocks from the lower neocomian to the
inoceramus limestone, as seen in the Alte Mann as well as in the other
chief summits.

I shall hereafter advert to its escarpments when speaking of the
great flexures and fractures of the chain, where the tertiary nagelflue
is apparently brought under the masses of secondary limestone. I
will now briefly state, that on the north flank of the Kamor, a north-
eastern promontory of this group, and again on the Fahnern moun-
tain beyond it, there are natural sections which exhibit the supracre-
taceous succession (see fig. 15). The last boss of the sewer-kalk of the

Fig. 15.
N.W. S.E.
Eggerstand. ES =
f . X . LESS \ Ss = —_
de te) g

g. Flysch, with fucoids.

tf, f, f. Nummulite limestone.
e. Transition bed with Gryphea vesicularis.
d, Inoceramus limestone.

Hoher Sentis, prolonged in a low ridge to the N.E. of Weissbad,
constitutes a scarp immediately overhanging the little hamlet of Eg-
gerstand, where, in the form of thin-bedded white scaglia, it plunges
rapidly to the S.E., and is immediately covered by slightly micaceous
shale and bluish grey impure limestone with white veins. This rock,
which already resembles a variety of “flysch,” passes up into a sort
of sandy marlstone with some green grains associated with a dark in-
digo-coloured schist, in which occurs the same species of Gryphea, G.
vesicularis, to which I shall subsequently call attention in describing
the sections at Sonthofen in Bavaria, where it occupies a like place.

202 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

The next bed (d@) is a green cale-grit charged with nummulites and
orbitolites. So far all is clearly seen on the sides of the broken
ravines descending near Eggerstand. In ascending the Fahnern, or
rather in coasting its western face obliquely towards its summit from
the ravines above-mentioned, you next pass over a considerable thick-
ness of schists and sandstone or flysch, and then reach another and the
chief band of nummulite limestone which ranges along to Schwarzen
Eck. This is a very green-grained, sandy limestone, which when
bruised by the hammer is rendered grass-green, and contains Num-
mulites globulus, N. globosa and N. millecaput, Boubée, together
with Orbitolites and several forms of Pecten and the usual fossils of
the group.

The inclination of the strata gradually decreasing as the axis of
disturbance is receded from, the nummulite bands graduate upwards
into other beds of flysch in which no animal forms are visible, and
finally towards the summit of the hill into finely laminated, light-
coloured calcareous flagstone, on the laminze of which are numerous
impressions of fucoids of at least three species, viz. I. Targioni, F.
entricatus, and a new species with broad fronds, described by Prof.
Briinner as F’. Helveticus*.

In relation to these fucoids, I may here observe once for all, that
throughout the Savoy and Swiss Alps, and indeed I now believe gene-
rally all along the northern face of the chain, they occur in a zone
superior to the chief masses of nummulitic limestone. The beds in
whieh they occur are, however, so linked on to the inferior members
of the group in numerous natural sections, (there being no instances
of dislocations or unconformity between the one and the other with
which I am acquainted, except on lines of fault,) that I necessarily
consider them to form one natural group with the nummulitic rocks
on which they repose. In treating of the flexures and breaks of the
calcareous mountains of the Alps, I will hereafter produce a series of
transverse sections across the group of the Hoher Sentis, as prepared
by M. Escher von der Linth, which in exhibiting the wonderful
contortions to which these masses have been subjected will also clearly
indicate the order of the strata (see Pl. VII.).

Nummulitic Rocks and Flysch of the Voralberg and Allgau.—
Having traced these rocks to the north-eastern extremity of Switzer-
land, it became highly expedient to traverse the valley of the Rhine
above Bregenz and connect them with similar strata, which Prof. Sedg-
wick and myself had described many years ago. In fact, I could not
acquire the knowledge of the Savoy and Swiss succession which has
now been detailed, without seeing clearly that our former classification
of the nummulitic rocks and flysch of Dornbirn in the Voralberg, and
of Sonthofen in Bavaria, and of various places in Austria, with the
cretaceous system and greensand, must be changed.

The nummulite beds near Dornbirn on the right bank of the Rhme
have here been correctly described as apparently dipping southwards

* Professor Briinner has also shown that the Fucus Brianteus (Villa) of the

Briancon on the flanks of the Milanese Alps is identical with a species found in
the Gurnigel sandstone or flysch near Berne.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 203

under the great calcareous masses of the Stauffen*. On visiting this

spot with Prof. Briimner I found dark greyish, white-veined limestone

with schist or shale in the mass now visible zz sifu, which, if the fossils

were omitted, would be “ flysch,” surmounted by other bands of
schist or shale and sandy green-grained limestone passing into a grey

rock, and again shale and schist with thin stone bands of “ flysch.”

In the lower limestone were small-ribbed Pectens, large Ostree,

Terebratulz, Echini, and many Nummulites. The higher portion of
the upper band is characterized by Orbitolites discus and the Num-

mulites globosa. In the lower mass is the highly ferriferous band

formerly worked for iron, which is a perfect congeries of the Num-

mulina planospira or assilinoides and N. placentula (Desh.). These

fossils are precisely those of the Fahnern mountain on the opposite

bank of the Rhine ; whilst in the association of iron with the nummu-

lites it is clear that it is the direct western extension of the still more
ferruginous zone of Sonthofen in Bavaria.

These nummulitic and flysch beds apparently dip under the secon-
dary limestone. The mural escarpment of the Breitenberg, a coun-
terfort of the Stauffen, which seems to be the upcast mass, consists
chiefly of neocomian limestone, and in the part to which we ascended
with some difficulty through the thick woods we found the Spatangus
retusus of the lower member of that formation. It is probable that
there is really an overlap at this junction as represented in this wood-
cut, fig. 16, and the point will be discussed in the sequel.

Fig. 16.
Breitenberg.

Dornbirn. ASQ
f p6SEo"

Prryph 2 “
ff. Nemmulite rocks.
a. Neocomian (lower).

Sonthofen Iron Mines, and the Griinten Mountain in Bavaria.—
The symmetrical order of succession so clearly exposed on the outer
flank of the Fahnern and at other points around the Hoher Sentis,
and which is obliterated along the great line of fault at Dornbirn
near Bregenz, is strikingly and instructively resumed in the Griinten
mountain, situated between Immenstadt and Sonthofen in Bavaria.

Sections of this mountain were published in the communication so
often alluded to+, but they were defective in not presenting any well-
defined geological horizon either in the inferior or superior strata. It
is true that Prof. Sedgwick and myself then discovered greensands
with unquestionable British cretaceous fossils, and we stated that
these were surmounted by the scaglia or equivalent of the chalk.
But the transition downwards from that which really represents the
gault and upper greensand into the fossiliferous limestones, now

* Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. iii., 2nd series, p. 325, and pl. 36. fig. 3.
t Ibid. pl. 36. fig. 4.

204 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socteTty. [ Dec. 15,

known to be neocomian or lower greensand, was wholly omitted ; for,
as before said, the neocomian fossils were then unknown, and these
rocks were considered to be of jurassic age. On the other hand, the
transition upwards from the equivalent of the chalk into the num-
mulitie grit, and thence into the flysch as an overlying mass, was
imperfectly explained. In short, having returned to Sonthofen and
the Grunten after an interval of eighteen years, and immediately
after I had made a consecutive series of sections in strata of this age
throughout the Savoy and Swiss Alps, I looked at the masses with a
different eye to that with which I viewed them when the only Alpine
bases known to me were the rock-masses (often inverted) on the north
flank of the Austrian Alps. Even formerly, however, when treating
of the flysch with fucoids of this valley of Sonthofen, Prof. Sedgwick
and myself offered our sketch as a provisional arrangement only ;
stating that a more minute acquaintance with the fossil history of the
Alps might hereafter lead geologists to a better-defined subdivision of
these groups. Profiting, therefore, by the increase of this very fossil
knowledge and by a study of the best types in other parts of the chain,
and correcting my former views, I now offer sections which I consider
to be as clear, copious and instructive, in explaining the succession
from the cretaceous to the nummulitic rocks, as any with which I am
acquainted.

The peaked and remarkable calcareous mountain called the Griimten
(5923 French feet high), which stands out boldly between Immen-
stadt and Sonthofen, and there forms the eastern side of the valley
of the Iller, has a general direction from N.E. to S.W. This direc-
tion, oblique to that of the chain which trends from W.N.W. to
E.N.E., is connected with dislocations which affect all this tract. On
the north-west face, where the mountain is washed by the Iller, it
throws out a spur above the village of Wagneritz or towards Immen-
stadt; to the north it abuts against a mass of tertiary molasse; on
the south-east it is divided into several jagged peaks, the precipitous
walls of which preserve a parallelism to the main ridge of summits ;
whilst on the south-west, or towards Sonthofen and the upper valley
of the Iller, round-shaped buttresses diminishing in height expose
an excentric arrangement of strata in ascending order. In a word,
the general escarpment of the mountain is to the north-west and
north-east, and the prevailing dips of the strata to the south-east and
south-west. The best general section may be described as that
which exposes an ascending order from the elevated escarpment near
Rettenberg on the north-east, to the plain of Sonthofen beyond the
village of Burgberg on the south-west. As in proceeding upon this
ascending section the strata towards the south-west are found to
mantle round and overlap the chief nucleus, it follows that lines drawn
either to the south or west of the sectional line will exhibit similar
successions. Thus, on the south-eastern face of the Grunten, vertical
walls of jagged limestone, which diminish in height from the summits
of the mountain to the valley of the Starzlach, expose precisely the
same ascending order of strata as that which is seen in the masses
that fold over at less high angles towards Burgberg and Sonthofen.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 205

A glance at this diagram, fig. 17, will sufficiently explain the

case. -
Fig. 17.
Right bank of the Iiler.
N.N.E. Griinten. Sega.

Kammer-Eck.

Sonthofen,

oA AR SS SN WW

EX UMA A

6 ctede f

[ d. Inoceramus limestone or chalk.

Molasse. Fault. a
e. Drees and nagelflue. ec. Green sandstone and gault,
: eee c*, White quartzose sandstone.
Eocene. { f. Nummulitic limestone alter- Cretaceous... 7 Upper neocomian limestone
(Caprotina ammonia).
a. Lower neocomian limestone.

nating with flysch.
e. Transition band with Gryphea.

The lowest visible rocks, as seen in the escarpments on the north
and north-east faces of the Grinten (a of fig. 17), are shaly, dark
grey, thin-bedded compact limestone, with a little iron and nodules
of black flint, alternating repeatedly with dark shale. Some of the
beds contain so much chlorite, that, like rocks in two other zones
higher in the series, they become grass-green when bruised by the
hammer, though previously they are simply dull grey calcareous grits
or impure limestones with schists. With the exception of an ammo-
nite, M. Brunner} and myself found no fossils in this rock. There
can, however, be no doubt that it is the lower neocomian of Swiss geo-
logists, which lithologically it resembles, and like which it graduates
up into, and is at once overlaid by, the true upper neocomian, white
limestone. The latter rock (4), which, as has been stated, forms so
clear a horizon throughout large regions of the external calcareous
chain of the Alps, is here, as elsewhere, a thick-bedded, compact,
light grey limestone, weathering white in the cliffs ; the surface being
distinguished by innumerable white lines, occasionally definmg the
segments of the shell of the Caprotina ammonia and other fossils.
Usually, indeed, these fossil outlines are the hardest portions of the
rock, and stand out in the form of chert. Veins of white cale spar
also traverse the strata. This white limestone or upper neocomian
constitutes the highest point of the double-peaked Griinten, a narrow
broken wall of limestone trending from north-east to south-west, the
beds of which dip rapidly to the south-west. The consequence is,
that in following the top of the crest from these limestone summits to
another point called the Hohe Wand, where a cross is erected, and
thence down to the highest houses in an upland gorge, called the
Gundalpe Hutte, you pass successively from the neocomian above
described to other overlying formations. The rock (c) immediately
resting upon the upper neocomian limestone is a lightish grey,
brownish, and even a whitish siliceous or quartzose sandstone. F'ind-
ing this rock in other sections on the sides of this mountain, as well
as upon the summit, and always in this position, viz. overlying the
hmestone recognised as the upper neocomian of the Alps; and,

+ This name has been misprinted Briinner in the preceding pages.

206 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

further, seeing that in all situations it is capped by a zone of dark
green, schistose sandstone which contains fossils of the gault or upper
greensand, I was induced to think that it might represent the upper
portion of our English lower greensand, some parts of which it re-
sembles. It may also be compared with the ‘ Quader Sandstein ”’
of Saxony, except that it is more brittle and quartzose. Whatever
the sandstone rock (ce) may represent (for we found no fossils or
casts in it), there could be no doubt as to the next zone, or the dark
shale and deep green sandstone (c*) that succeed, and which, though
of no great dimensions (probably nowhere exceeding 50 feet), is
the same excellent fossil horizon as in Savoy and Switzerland. In
short, it is the band so often spoken of as representing the gault and
upper greensand. In it we found ammonites of two or three species,
including 4. Mantelli (Sow.), Turrilites, and the small Inoceramus
concentricus (Sow.).

Some of these fossils also occur in a lateral spur of the Grinten,
towards the village of Wangeritz, and others on the external face of
the great dome-shaped mass which, in the ravines to the east of Burg-
berg, exhibit this dark green sandstone passing up into a thin band
of hard, compact, cream-coloured limestone impregnated with chlorite ;
in short a hard “craie chloritée.’’ The green sandstone is extensively
quarried on one of the shoulders of the Grinten to the north side of
the great depression called the Vust+, between the mountain and the
nummulite ledges (f) that run down to Burgberg, and when worked
out is really a very striking band. It is a mottled rock, and fre-
quently owes this appearance to branching flattened stems, which may
be Alcyonia.

The imoceramus limestone (@), with its chloritic base, above alluded
to, forms a wrapper of great thickness over the green sandstone or
gault, and constitutes the external coat of the mountain on its western
and south-western faces. It is largely and clearly exposed in the
breaks on the sides of the upland depression of the Gundalpe
Hiitte, above the Vust ravine, from whence it rises up to the summit
called the Hohe Wand, the cross of which stands on it, and very near
its junction with the inferior zone of green sandstone. In parts it is
of the colour of the sewer-kalk, 7. e. a light grey or green colour ;
but above the Gundalpen, or between these chalets and the Hohe
Wand, it graduates into limestone as red as the scaglia of Italy, or
of the Mythen mountain near Schwyz. Throughout its matrix are
numerous fragments, occasionally almost entire shells, of large thick-
shelled inocerami. This rock of the Griinten, so clearly in the posi-

+ Many of the fossils, so called, of Sonthofen, collected by the Bergmeister and
other persons, have been found in the beds of this broad torrent called the Vust.
Now, as the waters which flew into it traverse all the strata in the cretaceous suc-
cession, and these flank the nummulitic beds, geologists will readily understand
how Prof. Sedgwick and myself were formerly led to believe, by the inspection
of such collections, that nummulites occurred in the same beds with ammonites
and belemnites and small inocerami, the green sandstones above and below the
equivalent of the chalk often closely resembling each other. I have now-satisfied
myself that here, as elsewhere throughout the Alps, nummulites are unknown
below the surface of the inoceramus limestone.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 207

tion of the chalk of North Europe and of the scaglia of North Italy,
is of very considerable thickness, certainly several hundred feet.

The largest superficies in which the inoceramus limestone is ex-
posed, is around the dome-shaped masses, the external faces of which
dip rapidly down into the great ravines north-east and east of Burg-
berg. In the latter we perceived it to be overspread by a thin course
of dark greyish, fatty marl, in which we detected one inoceramus.
This band is immediately surmounted by marly and incoherent,
slightly micaceous, thin-bedded sandy shale, which here has been
largely denuded, and above Burgberg is exposed in a transverse de-
pression between the Griinten mountain on the one hand and the

lower nummulitic ridges on the other.

_ This hollow space (the Vust) between the external face of every
stratum to which the terms ‘chalk’ or ‘cretaceous’ can rigorously
be applied, and the lowest band of nummulitic limestone, is occupied
in its lower portion by the small micaceous shale and schist before
mentioned, which is succeeded by a greenish sandstone associated
with impure greyish limestone and dark grey shale. These beds,
particularly the sandy impure limestone, contain the same Gryphea
vesicularis which has been remarked as lying between the inoceramus
limestone and the nummulitic rocks of the Fahnern in Appenzell.
Here, however, this intermediate band of green sandstone, schist
and limestone (e of the diagram) is vastly more expanded. If the
section be made in the regular ascending order of the mountain
(fig. 17), as followed from its main escarpment, over its summits,
down the Gundalpe, and across the Vust to the nummulitic ridges
east of Burgberg, this intermediate group (e) is seen to be perfectly
conformable to the inoceramus limestone beneath it, and to the lowest
nummulitic rock above it. Equally is it conformable if another
section at right angles to the above be made from the Griinten to
the valley of the Starzlach, a little to the south of the chief mines,
and where a rivulet descends from the mountain (see fig. 18). In

fie Ts.

The Griinten.

Cretaceous. Nummulites. Flysch.

this section the beds are more nearly vertical, and necessarily occupy
very small horizontal spaces. The same order being followed from
centre to flank, 7. e. from the neocomian through the greensand
and cretaceous strata, the explorer does not fail to observe a great
thickness of bluish grey, slightly micaceous marls, and marlstone
associated with a sort of greensand, and beds of impure grey lime-
stone with white veins (e), im which we again detected the same Gry-
phzea as in similar strata in a like position in the other section near
Burgberg, p. 205.
a2

208 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socteTy. [ Dec. 13,

The Grypheea to which I have now so much altuded, is considered
by Mr. Morris, M. D’Archiac, and all the conchologists who have
examined and compared it since my return to England, to be the
G. vesicularis, a fossil of the upper chalk of England, and which im
the south of France is common to the white chalk and the lowest
nummulitic zone. It was either this species or its representative Gry-
phite, which Professor Sedgwick and myself collected at Matsee, north
of Salzburg in Austria, where it occurs in strata similar to those of the
Griinten and Fahnern mountains, and where it is equally surmounted
by nummulitic limestones with large Echini and Pectens*. If then
we are guided by fossils, we ought to group this band or termediate
bed (e) with the cretaceous system, although its beds have already
assumed to a great extent the lithological characters of the overlying
nummulitic greensands and flysch into which they make an imper-
ceptible transition. In the Fahnern mountain, indeed, the same
Gryphzea continues to pervade the ascending strata until it is asso-
ciated with nummulites; whilst in the Vicentine, anotherspecies of Gry-
pheea approaching to the G. columba, mounts, as is well known, into
strata in which not only nummulites, but many true eocene shells
occur. ‘These Gryphites (perhaps two or more species) characterize,
therefore, the zone of transition between the secondary and tertiary
rocks of the Northern Alps.

Nummulite Rocks and ‘ Flysch.’—After a clear exhibition on
the sides of the torrents of several courses of the above-mentioned
strata with Gryphites, some of which lithologically resemble -the
flysch above the nummulites, these beds (e, fig. 18), dipping 60° to
70° south-east, are seen to graduate conformably into another and
somewhat thicker band of limestone of deep ferruginous colour, which
is loaded with myriads of nummulites, grains of chlorite bemg abun-
dantly disseminated in it (/). This is the lowest of the several weli-
known zones of nummulitic iron ore of Sonthofen, and it is charged
with the large Nummulina millecaput and N. planospira, the smaller
N. globosa, the large Echini with Crustacea (Cancer Sonthofensis),
Pectens, some Terebratule, the Trochus giganteus, etet. On a
former occasion it was stated generally, that bands of nummulitic
limestone succeeded each other on the banks of the Starzlach, and
I would now simply observe, that the overlying schists, impure
limestone, and sandstones of the mountain (g) are referable to
the flysch, or are simply the continuation of one and the same series of
strata, however slightly they may be fossiliferous in their upper parts.

* See Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond., New Series, vol. iii. p. 349. The Gryphza of
Matsee is named G. eapansa by Mr. J. Sowerby. Unluckily the true equivalents of
the chalk or limestone with Inocerami are not visible near Matsee. It is now
however my belief (though I have not re-examined the country) that all the exten-
sive mass of flysch or Vienna sandstone lying between Matsee, Mondsee, and the
walls of secondary limestone on the south, is of lower tertiary age.

+ Trans..Geol. Soc., New Series, vol. iii. p. 332. The genera are Pecten, Tere-
bratula, Spondylus, Plicatula, Astarte, Anomia, Isocardia, with large Serpule, the
well-known large Echini, and the Cancer Sonthofensis. It is in fact the same
group, most of the species being undescribed, as that which occurs all through the
Swiss Alps.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 209

Returning to the chief section (fig. 17), I specially call attention to
the ascending succession, as seen to the south-east of Burgberg, above
the intermediate gryphite zone (e). As on the east flank of the
Griinten (fig. 18), so here we see schist and thin bands of dark flysch
with white veins, intercalated between the greensand and impure lime-
stone with the Gryphzea and the lower zone of nummulites. The
mineralogical transition is here equally perfect, nummulites are also
abundant, together with Pectens, Spondyli, and other fossils of
the zone, the beds being also ferriferous, but offering some local
peculiarities, such as small cavities in the green sandy calciferous
grits. This band (/f) is overlaid by glossy light grey and dark
schists, that have been worn into a small depression, which is fol-
lowed by a second ridge of nummulitic rock. The mass of this is a
greenish, yellowish sandstone, or sandy cale grit, which graduates
into a hard siliceous limestone containing large Echimi, Pectens,
Terebratulee, as well as: Nummulites, and is very peculiar from the
small flakes of chlorite which occupy the structural divisions of some
of the foraminifera. Shale and thin stone bands recur in another
slight depression, followed by another course of nummulitic limestone
of grey colour, but also containing iron, whereon an ancient castle
stands ; then another depression in shale, &c. ; and lastly a great band
of nummulitic limestone of about 150 feet in thickness, which, being
thin-bedded, sandy, and subconcretionary in its lower parts, passes
up into very thick beds of hard grey limestone charged with Num-
mulina millecaput, Orbitolites, &c. This limestone, when followed
to the Starzlach, plunges under other courses of schist and sandy
shale, forming part of the great overlying masses that occupy both
banks of the river Iller, between Sonthofen and Ober Maiselstein,
but which are denuded in the plain of Sonthofen.

I may complete this ascending section of the formations in the
valley of the Iller by stating, that although a consecutive ascending
order is observable in the hills to the east, the same order cannot be
followed without breaks, curvatures and reversals in the chief de-
pression or on its western side. It is manifest, however, that all the
sandstones, schists and bastard limestones, which constitute the flysch
on both sides of the valley between Sonthofen on the north and the
Schwarzenberg, are parts of that great group the lower portion of
which inmosculates with the nummulitic limestones. (See fig. 19.)

Fig. 19.
Left bank of the Iiler, above Sonthofen.
N.N.W. Bolghen. Schwarzenberg. S.S.E.

Valley of
Oberstdorf.

* The small Nwmmutina placentula (Desh.), N. intermedia (D’Arch.), in this
band, is, I believe, the same species known in the nummulitic limestones of

210 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [ Dec. 13,

This upper and much larger division of the supracretaceous formation,
which so rarely exhibits fossils, is chiefly characterized by its fucoids,
viz. ucoides Targion and F. intricatus. A little to the north of
the turnpike and bridge over the Iler, west of Sonthofen, this
“flysch” is in the condition of a light-coloured, greenish grey, mica-
ceous sandstone with black grains, in beds from two to four feet thick,
and undistinguishable from strata which I shall hereafter dwell upon
as the ‘“‘macigno”’ of the Italians; one bed of it, an excellent build-
ing-stone, being twelve feet thick, and much resembling the “ pietra
forte”’ of the Florentines. Intercalated with some of this ‘‘ macigno
alpin,”’ I detected a thin course of nummulitic limestone, the upper-
most limit of the nummulites in this region; for in the still higher
masses of “flysch,” extending by the Bolghen to the foot of the
Schwarzenberg near Ober Maiselstein, no traces of other fossils, except
fucoids, have been seen.

It is unnecessary to say more on the mimeral characters of the
overlying group of sandstones, limestones, calcareous grits, argilla-
ceous schist, and calcareous shale and flagstone, which compose the
flysch; and after all the details given, I need scarcely remind my
readers, that everywhere in the Swiss and Bavarian Alps, where the
order has been preserved, this group passes downwards into, and in-
osculates with, the nummulite limestones above the inoceramus lime-
stone or chalk. When combined with the nummulitic strata (from
which I hold them to be inseparable) they constitute therefore one
of the grandest formations of the Alps, often rivaling in thickness
the whole jurassic limestones, and being of as great thickness as the
cretaceous rocks on which they rest.

Altered Rocks of the Bolghen.

Before I take leave of the valley of Sonthofen, I must explain my
present views respecting the phenomena in the Bolghen mountain
near Ober Maiselstein, where large masses of crystalline rock (having
the character of mica schist, gneiss? &c.) were described* as pene-
trating the green sandstone, fucoid shales and millstone grits of the
flysch series. Judging chiefly from Scottish analogies, I formerly
thought that these crystalline rocks, which I then believed to be
of primary age, had been partially protruded in wedge-shaped and
conical masses through overlying sandstones and schists; and I
deemed this view the more probable, as on both sides of the valley
of the Iller in this part of the district, the strata are not only
much convulsed and set on edge, but are partially penetrated by
eruptive rocks, and on the east side of the valley contain many
mineral veins. That opinion has been controverted by M. Studer,
who believes that those masses of crystallme rock im the Bolghen
are in truth transported doulders, which were included in the

Mosciano near Florence. Besides the prevalent species of nummulites, viz. NV. pla-
nospira, N. millecaput, N. Biaritzana, &c., Professor Brunner thought he discovered
a new species, which he proposed to name NV. Murchisoni.

* See Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. iii. p. 334.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 211

“flysch” during the period of its formation. As he mainly sup-
ports that view by the example of certain granitic blocks of the valley
of Habkheren near Interlacken, and as the interstratification of such
boulders or blocks in strata of that age must be very novel to En-
glish geologists, I crave permission to digress from the chief objects of
this memoir, in order to discuss a point, which, according to M.
Studer, is closely related to the structure of the “ flysch.”

In the valley of Habkheren, on the north bank of the lake of
Thun (as in many interior valleys of the calcareous chains of the
Swiss Alps), the flysch is squeezed up in a narrow trough with
broken and highly inclined strata, portions of which are exhibited
on the right-hand side of the hill road which ascends from Inter-
lacken to Habkheren. That these beds belong to the true supracre-
taceous flysch is undoubted, because in rising up they overlap the
nummulitic limestone at the head of the valley, which rock in its
turn surmounts the neocomian limestones of the adjacent chain.
These ‘flysch’ rocks, in parts pebbly and gritty, in parts schistose,
together with the usual shale and thim-bedded, dark, impure white-
veined limestones of this series, are there seen to contain truly inter-
calated geodes and bands of a granitoid character, which re-occur at
intervals in a distance of about 150 paces, much in the manner re-
presented in the diagram (fig. 20), the granitic geodes often imitating

1. Greenish crystalline granitic course. Be ee granitic band.

2. Alternations of schist and impure lime- 6. Black schists with calcareous concretions.
stone or ‘‘ flysch.”’ x Schists with granitic concretions.

3. Granitic geodes. . Schists and limestones overlaid by grani-

4. Schist and limestone, &c. toid conglomerates, &c.

in form the calcareous nodules! My attention was first directed to
this section by Professor Studer, in company with whom and M. Me-
rian and M. Favre, I visited it. It appeared to me, that the granitoid-
like concretions are there intercalated with calcareous nodules, as
well as that the thin granitic courses alternate with the schists and im-
pure limestones. The largest of the concretions visible in the course
(3) is an oblate spheroid about four feet long by three feet wide ;
the external zone being more schistose, the interior passing from a
paste with large crystals of felspar to a more compact nucleus, one
extremity of which seemed almost as if made up of small granite
pebbles. The band (5), on the other hand, appeared to be an uniform
greenish-coloured granite or granitic gneiss.

I confess that I could not account for such appearances, except by
supposing that the granitic matter was evolved contemporancously
with the formation of the sedimentary sandstones and schists which
envelope it ; the concretionary forms of some of these masses seeming

202 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

to favour the hypothesis. But whether produced in the same man-
ner as the so-called volcanic or plutonic grits of other regions, by
contemporaneous segregation of the igneously-formed particles in the
bottom of a turbid sea, or by subsequent partial alteration of the
strata through the action of heat and gases, or by transport from
other rocks, it is clear that these small developments of granitic matter
are contemporaneous with the flysch.

Now, it happens that in the same valley of Habkheren several large
granitic blocks also exist, which lying upon the surface of the an-
cient alluvium, or having been washed into water-courses, have at a
distance all the aspect of the usual Alpine erratic blocks, about the
transport of which there has been so much discussion*. The largest
of these lies on the surface of a boggy meadow, under which is a
great thickness of the coarse ancient alluvia on the east side of
the rivulet of Habkheren, as explained in the woodcut (fig. 21). This

Habkheren.

x, Erratic blocks. g. Eocene flysch.
y. Ancient alluvium.

block, so superposed to the ancient alluvia, is about 105 feet long by
90 feet broad and 45 feet high (above the marshy meadow), and
has therefore a mass of not less than 400,000 cubic feet. As it
consists of a peculiar granite}, now unknown to mineralogists in any
part of the Alps, Professor Studer believes that, like the very small
geodes and courses alluded to, this block was also included in the
formation of the flysch, and that durmg the disintegration of that
rock on the vertical sides of the valley, it has rolled down into its
present position.

Extending this view, M. Studer accounts in a similar manner for
what he calls the blocks of the Bolghen, 7. e. that they were derived
from pre-existing rocks, and were originally encased in the flysch
during its formation. After examining both spots, I cannot adopt
this opinion, nor can I regard the great block of Habkheren in any

* In this memoir I shall not enter upon the question of the Alpine erratics, it
being my intention, at a future day, to give my opinions concerning their transport
and their relation to former glaciers.

+ According to Studer, this granite is composed of bluish-white and pink fel-
spar, the latter possibly albite, with white quartz, occasionally weathering yellowish,
and dark bronze-coloured mica in small crystals.

1848.|| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS, 213

other light than that of a huge superficial erratic derived from some
parent rock, which has either since been lost by subsidence and
buried beneath other deposits, or is hidden from sight under those
coverings of snow and ice, which necessarily impede observation over
so very large an area of the higher Alps. I fully admit that the small
bands of granitic rock above adverted to, are fairly intercalated
in the flysch, but the presence of geodes, the largest of which is not
above four feet long and a foot wide, can never satisfy me that a mon-
strous block, containing 400,000 cubic feet, was similarly formed; that
block not having the slightest appearance of having ever been a geode.
Again, no conglomerates known in any part of the flysch of the
Alps exhibit pebbles of more than a foot or two m diameter. But,
supposing this block to have been part of a conglomerate, and that
it was transported from a ridge of crystalline rock into the flysch
during the formation of that deposit, by what agency must we
suppose it to have been moved? Certainly not either by solid or
floating ice; for the period of the nummulites and flysch was any-
thing but one of glacier action, and was in fact one of considerable
warmth.

Seeing then no satisfactory explanation of the deposit of a block of
this magnitude in finely lamimated sandstone and schist (such as con-
stitutes the flysch of the sides of the valley of Habkheren) (g of
fig. 21), I necessarily reject the application of such reasoning to the
Bolghen. On re-examining that locality (see fig.19, p. 209) I perceived
that the rocks which I had described as millstone grits, greensands
and schists, have each of them a persistent strike. Thus, quartz
grits, passing into highly indurated schists, the former assuming the
vitrified aspect of certain quartz rocks, trend from the slopes above
Ober Maiselstein to the summits of the Bolghen on the west. They
are, in fact, either vertical or dip 70° to 80° north and south. Now,
associated with these, and havmg indeed quartz rocks on both sides
of it, the chief boss of mica schist rock protrudes itself. From the
conical form of the chief mass, I suggested that it might have been
upheaved amidst these sediments, and have tilted them to the right
and left. On recently making a transverse section from the summit
on the N.N.W. to the gorge of the Schinbergerach on the 8.8.E., I
perceived, however, that in parts, the black schists of the flysch passed
into a sort of Lydian stone, and that perfectly parallel to the higher
zone there were other less elevated peaky ridges of altered millstone
grit and sandstone, partially in a state of quartz-rock, with here and
there a sort of mica schist. These quartz rocks are sometimes in-
deed in an amorphous state, and often appear like so many dykes
of fused or semi-fused matter running through bands of highly altered
flysch limestone. With such appearances therefore on all sides, I
could not resist the impression, that the so-called gneiss and mica
schist, which I had supposed to be upheaved points of older crystal-
line rocks, are nothing more than certain courses of the “flysch”
which have undergone greater change than the others. Besides, the
phzenomenon occurs in a highly mineralized zone of the chain; and

214 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [ Dec. 13,

when I add*, that it is immediately to the north of a grand line of
fault, by which the whole system of the flysch and nummulite rocks
is brought in its southern flank against the neocomian limestone
(see fig. 19) (in precisely the same unconformable relations as at Dorn-
birn and Haslach, south of Bregenz), there may be less difficulty in
adopting this solution. At all events, the conversion of flysch into
gneiss and mica schist is, as before stated, a pheenomenon in the
Grisons insisted on by M. Studer himself, and a partial exhibition of
such metamorphism in the Bolghen may therefore reasonably be ad-
mitted.

Prolongation of the Cretaceous and Numinulitic zones of Switzer-
land and Bavaria into the Austrian Alps.

Taking the strata of Appenzell and those of the Griinten and Sont-
hofen as types, the practised geologist will have little difficulty in adapt-
ing to them the descriptions of the sections of the Alp Spitz near Nes-
selwang, the banks of the Traun, Kressenberg, Untersberg, Matt-
see+ and Pancratz, as given by Prof. Sedgwick and myself. Thus, at
the Alp Spitz, near Nesselwang, to the east of the Grimten and on the
edge of the Bavarian Alps, there is clearly a cretaceous succession, the
extent and details of which must be hereafter worked out. But in the
meantime, and in reference to our former section, it appears clear that
the northern flank of that mountain presents an escarpment in which
strata, with fossils of the greensand and gault (if not neocomian), are
brought into contact with the same tertiary conglomerates as at the
Griinten (molasse and nagelfiue)t. To the south, or towards the
Alps, the younger strata of “ flysch,” &c., are thrown off from these
greensands and cretaceous rocks, the most southern of which is evi-
dently a representative of the chalk.

In the section of the Traunstein there is pretty much the
same expansion of a system of sandstone and shale and impure lime-
stone with several courses of nummulites, &c.§, as that which has

* M. Boué has described the crystalline mining tract east of the valley of the
Iller, which is in truth a prolongation of these masses.

tT The fossils which I formerly collected at Mattsee having been examined by
M. D’Archiac, are pronounced by him to be Nummulites Biaritzana (D’ Arch.)
(N. atacica, Leym.), so common in the Lower Pyrenees, the Corbieres, and the
Lower French Alps; J. rotularis? Desh. (N. globulus, Leym.), of the Corbiéres
and the Crimza ; Orbitolites submedia (D’Arch.) of Biaritz and the Lower Alps;
Operculina, n. s. ; Echinolampas, probably the £. ellipsoidalis (D’ Arch.) of Biaritz ;
and among the Pectens one species closely resembles the P. ¢ripartitus (Desh.) so
well known in the tertiary rocks of France. Identifying these beds with those of
Kressenberg (see the Bulletin of the Vienna Society, 1848, vol. iv. pp. 267, 269,
and Leonhard’s Jahrbuch, 1849, p. 109), M. Erhlich has cited from them the
Nautilus lingulatus, Clypeaster (Conoclypus) conoideus, C. Bouei, and the Micraster
pulvinatus (D’Arch.). As I formerly found such Echinoderms at Mattsee, though
at that time they were without names, there can be no sort of doubt of the age
of the rock; the Gryphza of the lowest beds being the only secondary form.

$ Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. voi. iii. p. 337. plate 36. fig. 5. The section is so
drawn that the tertiary conglomerates appear to be conformable to the cretaceous
masses. This is an error.

§ Geol. Trans. vol. iii. p. 338-9, pl. 36. fig. 6.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 215

been described elsewhere, and particularly at Sonthofen. In refer-
ring my readers to page 338 of the third volume of the Transactions
of the Geological Society, I have only to request them to consider the
great group of the flysch, nos. 2, 3 and 4 (Miesenbach to Loheim),
as overlying the nummulitic strata nos. 5, 6 and 7, and the whole falls
into order with Sonthofen and the Swiss types. To make that in-
structive section entirely coincide with my present views, I ought to
add, that between the northern end of the nummulitic grits and the
setting on of the tertiary molasse, the grand fault so often alluded
to occurs, and is represented by piles of detritus. The truth is,
that the great external fault of the Alps here, as in all the other
places cited, inverting the flysch and throwing it off to the south,
brings up, against strata of pliocene age, the very oldest or bottom
beds of the eocene deposit.

This great fault has, however, been moderate in its operation in
Austria and on the south slopes of the valley of the Danube, when
compared with the gigantic dislocations that accompany it in Bavaria
(Grinten), and in Switzerland (Hoher Sentis and Pilatus, &c.), where
even the neocomian limestone, or the equivalent of the very bottom
of our lower greensand, is thrust up into lofty escarpments, on the
upper surfaces of which the overlying cretaceous and nummulitic
groups are pitched in towards the Alps, whilst that neocomian or the
oldest formation of the whole succession is at once in contact with
younger tertiary nagelflue! Thus, whether we appeal to the Austrian,
Bavarian or Swiss sections, we perceive (now that we have a true ac-
quaintance with fixed fossiliferous base-lines), that there is an ascend-
ing order from the point of junction with the younger tertiary, or in
other words, that in the valley of the Danube, as in the great valley
of Switzerland, or on the shores of the lake of Constance, the under-
lying members of the series on which in other places the nummulitic
group rests, rise up at the very outside of everything alpine, and
often throw off the younger portion of the eocene formations into
the abnormal position of dipping under the great secondary limestones
of the chain.

In regard to the cretaceous group of Gosau, it has been already
remarked that it is deficient, both in not possessing any solid lime-
stone with fossils to represent, as in Switzerland and Bavaria, the
true equivalent of the white chalk, and also in being void of a distinct
nummulitic zone. I have, however, now little doubt, that the sand-
stone, impure limestone and shale, which there overlie the marls, re-
cognised by their fossils to be cretaceous, are representatives in time
of a portion of the nummulitic and flysch series of other parts. In
fact, it may be said of Gosau, that the lithological type of the << flysch”’
there descends not only to the horizon of the inoceramus limestone,
to the total exclusion of any limestone to represent the chalk, but
also takes possession of nearly all the series of beds which further
represent the upper greensand and gault ; the first bands of hard and
coherent rock being the subcrystalline hippurite limestone, which,
like that of the Untersberg, near Salzburg, represents the neocomian
formation.

216 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 13,

At the Untersberg, the equivalents of the gault, upper greensand
and chalk, which repose upon neocomian limestone or hippurite
marble, are marls and marlstones, often not unlike malm-rock, and
variegated green and red bands, some of them approaching to scaglia,
in which Professor Sedgwick and myself found Belemnites and Bacu-
lites with Inoceramus Cripsii (Sow.) and Trochus linearis. Next
come sandstone and calcareous grit, with many small nummulites,
followed by other strata of sandstone and blue marl, in which other
nummulites, with Operculine, Dentalia and Serpulze, are associated
with shells having a tertiary aspect. Two or three species indeed of
these fossils, such as Auricula simulata (Sow.) and Dentalium grande
(Desh.), have been considered identical with species of the London
and Paris basin.

In following the cretaceous rocks from Bavaria into Austria, their
upper member or the equivalent of the chalk is no longer to be seen in
the form of the white limestone, which is so clear a horizon in Savoy,
Switzerland and Western Bavaria. Even at the sections of the Un-
tersberg between Reichenhall and Salzburg, the band containing the
chalk fossils is, as above stated, made up of grey, green and red marls
and marlstone. In the valley of Gosau, still further to the east, the
lithological change is still more decisive ; for not only is there no trace
of a white limestone, but the group so loaded with fossils, many of
which are unquestioned cretaceous species, with many peculiar ter-
tiary-like forms, consists of soft shale and sandy marl, with impure
dark-coloured limestones. Reverting however to the sections of the
strata above the cretaceous rocks of the Untersberg*, I may affirm,
that they exhibit the same general ascending order as at the Griinten,
near Sonthofen, and other places, 2. e. from a true cretaceous zone,
(the equivalent of the chalk being in a very different mineral state, )
through certain strata of marl and sandstone into masses with num-
mulites and shells, all of which are unknown in the strata below. On
the other hand, it is evident that beds having the characters of the
*‘ flysch,” are not merely the expanded overlying member of the num-
mulitic group, but often inosculate with bands of nummulites, and
even descend as at Gosau into strata with the true cretaceous fossils.
Again, we readily see, that notwithstanding a local dislocation, the
highly fossiliferous nummulitic strata of Kressenberg are but a full
development of one of these upper bands of limestone, of which I have
mentioned many examples.

Not having personally revisited Kressenberg, I can only suggest
that the intermixture of a few cretaceous fossils with the acknowledged
tertiary types of that locality may be explained? by their having been
obtained from the Bergmeister (as at Sonthofen, see p. 206), who may

* The reader must be told, that the true cretaceous rocks with fossils of the age
of the gault and chalk, are with great difficulty detected in the slopes between the
Untersberg and Reichenhall, owing to the quantity of verdure and detritus which
obscure the slopes; but although to a great extent hidden and of no great thick-
ness, they certainly exist in the ravines mentioned by Professor Sedgwick and my-~
self. See Geol. Trans., New Series, vol. iii. p. 346.

+ See Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. iii. p. 344, note.

1848.| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 217

have collected some of the forms in a truly cretaceous rock. My friend
M. de Verneuil, who visited Kressenberg in 1847, has informed me that
all the fossils associated with the nummulites are of supracretaceous
forms. He has satisfied himself that the matrix of the two sets of
fossils is quite distinct, the one containing the gault or greensand
fossils being an earthy chloritic sandstone, the other a highly quart-
zose and ferruginous rock. It is in the latter only, which is sur-
mounted by the flysch, that nummulites occur, including NV. levigata,
Lamk., and WN. elegans, Sow., of our London clay, associated with
Orbitoidea, D’Orb.; Pygorhynchus Cuvierit, so abundant in the cal-
caire grossier of Paris; Conoclypus conoideus, which, with other
species of that genus, is so frequent in the Alps; and also the
Echinolampas politus, Ag., common to the Vicentine and south of
France.

In a word, there can be no sort of doubt in the mind of any geo-
logist, who has examined the two localities, that the nummulite rocks
of Sonthofen are exact equivalents of those of Kressenberg. ‘The
flysch at the latter, as at Sonthofen, is thrown im towards the chain,
and differs only from that of Sonthofen in the occurrence of a line of
fault between it and the beds contaiming nummulites.

Deferring for the present the general consideration of the fossils of
the nummulitic rocks, I may remind the reader that they do not con-
tain any one of the prominently characteristic types of the chalk,
such as Ammonites, Belemnites, Hamites, Inocerami, &c. Hence I
think that all geologists who classify strata by their animal contents
combined with their order of superposition, must admit that the num-
mulite and flysch rocks of the Alps, Savoy, Switzerland, Bavaria and
Austria belong to the older tertiary or eocene age, and can no longer
be classed with the ecretaceous rocks. The only question, it seems to
me, which can be mooted is, where the precise line between second-
ary and tertiary should be drawn ;—for example, whether, as I think,
immediately at the base of the lowest band of nummulites, or still
lower beneath the flysch-like and greensand beds (e) with one or two
species of Gryphzea, of which so much has been said. On this point
it is sufficient to say, that wherever a true lithological passage and con-
formable transition occur, the settlement of such line of demarcation
must always be somewhat arbitrary.

The opinions of the eminent geologists who have classified the
nummulitic and flysch deposits in the secondary rocks, being based
upon physical features, I must necessarily defer considering them,
until the whole subject of the relations and fractures of this zone be
reviewed.

Supracretaceous or Older Tertiary Rocks of the Southern Alps
and Vicentine.

The greater part of a century has elapsed since Arduini* expressed
his belief, that the deposits of Ronca and Bolea, &c. were of tertiary
age, and that Fortis remarked how certain species of fossils from the

* See Arduini’s Letters.

218 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [Dece. 13,

Val d’Astico resembled forms published by
Brander from the London clay of Hamp-
shire. M. Brongniart*, however, first sy-
stematically classified these strata as older
tertiary, and described their organic re-
mains, whilst our associate Dr. Buckland
arrived, about the same time, at a like con-
clusion in his general survey of the Alps+.
But although there could be little doubt,
from the absence of cretaceous fossils, and
the presence of a multitude of genera having
a tertiary facies, that these shelly masses
were younger than the chalk, the great
desideratum still remained of natural exhi-
bitions of the true relations of these strata
to the inferior or secondary rocks. These
oe were the more called for, as some leading
eee geologists considered all the nummulite de-
posits of the Vicentine to be of cretaceous
‘uetmoooan, AE. In our rapid survey of parts of the
to suoourrd Vicentine in 1828, Sir C. Lyell and myself,
having visited the principal localities de-
scribed by Brongniart as ‘ caleareo-trap-
péens,” found these shelly deposits so com-
mingled with and interrupted by basaltic
and other eruptive rocks, that we were
unable, any more than our precursor, to de-
tect an order of succession. It was after
my colleague had proceeded on his journey
to the south of Italy and Sicily, that in
returning to England across the Venetian
Alps, I obtained the desired proofs of that
order, in the clear and instructive natural
sections on the banks of the Brenta near
Bassano, and again between Possagno and
Asolo. I there saw the same nummulitic
and shelly beds as those of the adjacent
Vicentine, entirely free from igneous intru-
sions, reposing conformably on the scaglia
or the Italian equivalent of the chalk, and
passing upwards into strata of younger ter-
tiary age, the whole upraised in limes par-
allel to the direction of the Alpine chain.
The figures of the remarkable sections
near Bassano were published in the ‘ Philo-
sophical Magazine,’ but as that work is in

e
ob
a

Plains of Venice.

\\\ \ AWN \
h
Miocene? Pliocene.

SLE
Eocene.

bed

Fig. 22.

Dolomitic region of the Canal di Brenta.

oe tee
oo LPO Are
= ZZ
ZZ
a

* Mémoire sur les Terrains de Sédiment supé-
rieurs calcareo-trappéens du Vicentin, par Alex-
andre Brongniart, Paris, 1823.

tT See Annals of Philosophy, June 1821.

===

= ae

SS =
o. Ammonitico rosso or Oxfordian,

N.N.W.
Setti Communi.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 219

the hands of few continental readers, I now reproduce them, with some
additions, as woodcuts*, (figs. 22, 23). When these sections near

Fig. 23.

SS aay oe het Pe aa 0 Os
o. Oxfordian. Cretaceous. Eocene. Miocene. Pliocene.
(Sub-Apennine.)

Bassano were described, the new nomenclature of Sir C. Lyell had not
been announced, and the groups of shells which there overlie the chalk
were simply termed lower and upper tertiary. These two classes of ter-
_ tiary rocks were shown by me to have been upheaved in parallel lines,
and also partially to expose a transition from one to the other. And
now that I have revisited the localities, and have examined a much
wider range of the Alps, I see more than ever the value of these sec-
tions; for as the nummulitic zone is there conformably placed be-
tween what I am certain is the true equivalent of the chalk, and a
superior zone in which younger tertiary shells occur, the zone so in-
tercalated, and which contains so many true older tertiary forms, must
be the representative of the eocene. Nay more, the highly inclined
position of the outer or younger tertiary zone would, as I formerly
stated, seem to indicate that one of the last great upheavals of the
Alps (redressement) took place after the accumulation of the sub-
Apennine formation. I do not by any means wish to imply that the
same elevation which raised the chalk and eocene deposits also raised
the younger tertiary deposits. On the contrary, I believe that the
latter were thrown up subsequently, but in the same direction as the
adjacent older deposits*.

It has already been stated, that a thick mass of compact cream-
coloured limestone, with flimts and ammonites, called “ biancone,”’
now proved by its fossils to be of neocomian age (a), reposes on
jurassic rocks (0), and is surmounted by the whole mass of the scaglia.
This scaglia (d), contaming in parts Inocerami, Terebratule and
Ananchytes ovatus, and beg interposed between the neocomian
and the group of nummulite rocks with tertiary fossils (f, g), is de-
monstrated, like the “‘ sewer-kalk”’ of Switzerland, to be the equiva-
lent of the chalk. In the headlands between Recoaro on the north

* My last visit to Bassano, Possagno and Asolo was made with the leading mem-
bers of the Geological Section of the Venetian Meeting of the “ Scienziati Italiani,’
to which I have before alluded. Those who will be at the trouble of consulting
my original sections as published in the Phil. Magazine (vol. v. June 1829, p. 401,
pl. 5) and those now produced, will perceive that there is nothing essential in the
one which is not in the other. The chief alteration is in respect to the flexure or
fracture of the cretaceous rocks near Bassano before they come into contact with
the nummulitic zone.

+ Although upon the small scale the younger tertiary are drawn conformable
to the older in figures 22 and 23, there are parts of the intervening tract between
Bassano and Possagno where the intermediate sandstones are broken and reversed.
Close research may detect an interval between the older and younger tertiary.

220 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [ Dee. 13,

and Vicenza on the south, this scaglia is copiously developed, and
may beseen innumeroussections underlying thenummulitic limestones.
Near Val d’Agno, to the south of Recoaro, the scaglia with its cha-
racteristic fossils is directly overlaid (as expressed in this woodcut) by

Fig. 24.
Relations of Lignite to Scaglia and Nummulite Limestone.

Ss. N.B. In this figure the north has been accidentally reversed. N.

f. Nummulite limestone. d. Scaglia or chalk.
e. Lignits coal shale.

seams of coal worked for use in that neighbourhood, which lie in shales
that dip away from the older rock, and pass under the adjacent hills of
nummulitic limestone. In fact, these coal-beds occupy the same
place as those of Entrevernes in Savoy, of the Diableretz, and of the
Beattenberg in the canton of Berne (see p. 189). There are, indeed,
other localities in this region where the nummulitic rocks are equally
characterized by containing lignites or coal, as at Monte Bolca, and
at Monte Viale near Vicenza, where it occurs in the escarpment of
the well-known coralline limestone of that insulated mount.
In the tract between Vicenza, Schio and Verona, the various se-
dimentary deposits are so penetrated by different eruptive rocks,
whether porphyries, trachytes, greenstones, basalts or serpentines,
and peperino, that the dislocations and interruptions are frequent,
and the original order of succession with difficulty observed, particu-
larly around Ronca, Montecchio Maggiore, and other localities noted
for their organic remains. To the west of Schio, however, and above

Fig. 25.

f. Nummulite limestone. d*, Red scaglia and white.
e. Shelly volcanic grit. ec. Grey scaglia.

the town of Magra, another instructive section is exposed (fig. 25),
the base being composed of the red and white scaglia, in which Ino-
cerami, Terebratula incurva, Ananchytes tuberculatus and other
fossils occur, whilst the summit is occupied by strong bands of num-
mulitic limestone. The beds being only slightly inclined, a perfect
conformity is observable, as well as a transition from one group to the
other. There are here no coal-seams, but towards its upper limits the
red fissile scaglia (d*) alternates several times with basaltic trap tuff,
some of the highest beds of which above the scaglia are just as much
loaded with nummulites as the hard grey nummulite limestone (/)
which crowns the hill. The manner in which certain bands of these
tuffs are thus interlaminated with the nummulitic strata here, and
with other shelly strata of this age in the adjacent tracts, mduces me
to think that they were volcanic dejections formed contemporaneously

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 221

with the submarine deposits,—a class of strata now too well known
to require further illustration+. At the same time I know that this
region also abounds in igneous rocks of a truly eruptive character
which have penetrated and cut through the whole of the stratified
masses. Examples of both these classes of former volcanic or plu-
tonic action are sometimes to be seen in the same hill, as exhibited in
the above woodcut. The chief masses or ledges of nummulitic lime-
stone which thus surmount the seaglia, dip on the whole southwards
to pass under the marls, tuffs, sands and limestone of the undulating
hills of the Vicentine, and thus the nummulitic limestone is fairly
seen to constitute the base of that shelly group, even in a tract much
traversed by basaltic matter. But in proceeding to the west and
south-west of Schio, the igneous rocks so abound, that a regular
sequence, I repeat, is not traceable for any considerable distance. To
the north of St. Orso near Schio, indeed, the effects of the intrusion
of a great mass of porphyry have been such as completely to invert
the strata and to fold back the cretaceous rocks and make them over-
lie first the nummulitic and then the other and younger tertiary
rocks}, as expressed in the diagram (fig. 26). This point will be

Fig. 26.

N.N.W. Inverted Strata. S.S.E.

Vi St. Orso.
Wh) cam
p a Diy CHG = GC ofa UF g
p. Porphyry. d, White scaglia. g. Sandy limestone (youngest beds),
prawe d*. Red scaglia. f. ? Blue maris.
TEACCOUS. fe Grey scaglia. Jf. Sand and clay. Eocene.
a&b. Neocomian. e. Shelly tuff and bone-beds.

reverted to when the dislocations and inversions in the Alps are con-
sidered, and I now proceed very briefly to direct attention to the clear
and unambiguous sections of Bassano and Asolo (figs. 22 & 23), which
have, in fact, proved to be, what I ventured to suggest so many years
ago, the best expositions of the true normal succession from the cre-
taceous to the tertiary rocks which have anywhere been observed on
the flanks of the Alps. (See back, pp. 218, 219.)

On the right bank of the Brenta at Campese, a little above Bassano,
the neocomian and scaglia, which range in great undulating terraces

+ M. Brongniart has described in some detail these rocks, which he has called
‘‘ calcareo-trappéens.” I only differ from my lamented friend in considering some
of his “‘ brecciole”’ as being contemporaneous with the deposits.

¢ In common with all the members of the Geological Section from Venice, I
was exceedingly obliged to my able friend, M. Pasini, for the pains he took to
make me better acquainted with the interesting tract around Schio, Recoaro, and
the Setti Communi, with which he has been so long conversant. The tract which
has given birth to Arduini, Brocchi, Fortis, Mazzari Pencati, Maraschini, and
Pasini, may well be considered classical in geology. In this region every variety
of dislocation is to be seen with much metamorphism of mineral structure; and
yet it is here that the best development of the trias is displayed, as well as
a copious series of jurassic, cretaceous and tertiary deposits.

VOL. V.—PART I. R

222 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SociETY. [ Dec. 13,

over the summits of the Setti Communi within the chain of the Alps
(see fig. 22), are brought down by rapid flexures to occupy, as before
said, vertical positions on the edge of the lower country*. To the red
and white scaglia (d) so placed on both banks of the Brenta succeed
sandy marls and stone-bands which form the base of the nummulitic
group formerly described. Vertical ledges (f) of nummulitic lime-
stone follow. This inclination is continued, as far as can be observed,
through the whole space occupied by the city of Bassano; for after
passing over the edges of a great thickness of marls, impure lime-
stone, sands, &c. (g, 2), few of which are well exposed, the section ter-
minates towards the flat country on the south in the conical hillock
of Monte Grado composed of sandstone, calcareous grit and pebbly
conglomerate (2), the beds of which strike parallel to the rest of the
ascending series, and dip 75° to 80° to the south. I have only to add,
that the Ostrea Virginica and the shells found in the outermost
conglomerate are of pliocene age, whilst the nummulitic and lower
masses near the scaglia are of the same date as the older tertiary
accumulations of Ronea, Castel Gomberto, &c.

The section from the scaglia of Possagno, on the edge of the Alps, to
Asolo, at the exterior of the tertiary series of this region (fig. 23), is
much more developed in its middle and upper portions, though the
junction of the nummulitic strata with the scaglia, so well seen at Bas-
sano, is not exhibited, the strata having been denuded in the Val d’ Ur-
gana. I believe that this valley was formerly occupied by the same
slightly coherent strata of shale, marl and green sandstone (e), which
in the Bavarian and Swiss Alps mark this horizon. The lowest tertiary
beds visible to the north of Possagno, and quite conformable in strike
and inclination to the underlying scaglia, are marls of darkish colour,
occasionally ferruginous and sandy, with fungize and other polypes,
and many of the fossils so well known at Monte Ronca and in the
Berici Hills(f’). Then follow calcareous grits and nummulitic lime-
stones (f) with Fusus longevus, which passing up into hard white
courses are surmounted by a yellowish subconcretionary impure sandy
limestone with blue fossiliferous marls in which pectens first appear.
Next come yellow sandy limestone and calcareous grit with green grains,
containing pectens and echini. This mass (g) is of considerable thick-
ness, and is very similar to some of the calcareous green sandstones
of Switzerland, there associated with the nummulite limestones. Over-
lying this ‘‘ glauconie grossi¢re’’ is a small concretionary mottled
dark grey and cream-coloured limestone, loaded with foraminifera,
in which nummulites sometimes occur. This rock is well exposed
at Castel-Cucco, where it has been largely quarried, and the co-
lumns of Canova’s church of Possagno are built of it. The strata
of marl, shale and sand which succeed to the south of Castel-Cucco (h)
are badly exposed in low undulating grounds with devious dips; but
on reaching the outer tertiary ridge of the Asolan Hills, a good, well-
cefined order is exposed, first, in an escarpment in which blue marls,

* See Bull. Geol. Soc. Fr. tom. iv. p. 56, 7th Nov. 1842, where M. de Zigno

confirms my former view of the general relations of the secondary to the tertiary
rocks.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 223

very like the subapennine marls of Brocchi, dip under yellow sand-
stones and pebbly conglomerates like those of Monte Grado near
Bassano (7). In the marls are the Venericardia costata, Arca Di-
luvit, Pyrula clathrata, with species of the genera Murex, Natica,
&e., which clearly characterize the blue marls of the subapennine
strata; whilst the large Ostrea Virginica is found in the overlying
yellow limestones and conglomerates. Being aware that M. de Zigno,
who has already written on the subject, and has sustained my former
views, is about to publish a detailed account of all the species in
the tertiary fossiliferous strata of the tract between the Brenta and
the Piave, I will not attempt to give paleontological details. I will
merely now say, that from the order of the strata and from the fossil
shells which our party collected, and also from those we inspected in
the museum of M. Parolini of Bassano, I still entertain no doubt that
the sections afford an ascending series from the surface of the chalk
up into deposits of the subapennine age. M. Ewald of Berlin*, an
excellent paleontologist, who m common with M. Leopold von Buch,
M. de Verneuil and myself, regarded all the lower portion as eocene,
thought that the sandy bands and calcareous grits, which there le
above the nummulitic group, might prove to be the equivalents of the
miocene.

But it is with the nummulite group that we are now occupied, and
I must leave to local observers the future details and exact delimi-
tation of each tertiary subdivision. It is enough for me to prove
that the cretaceous system is here distinctly and conformably over-
laid by true lower tertiary deposits, and that the facts which I an-
nounced so long ago have now been amply verified ; viz. that tertiary
rocks, both lower and upper, are in this tract parallel to the secondary
rocks, and have been upheaved and set on edge by forces which also
affected the adjacent Alps. The lower tertiary group is specially
characterized between Bassano and Possagno by containing, in addi-
tion to nummulites, Fusus longevus, F. intortus, Pleurotoma semi-
colon, Turritella imbricataria, and a whole suite of shells and many
corals completely distmmct from those of the chalk, and which are
either known tertiary forms of Northern Europe, or species peculiar
to the localities. In following the same zone westwards into the
Bregonze Hills, and the tracts around Vicenza and Schio, or to the
interesting, isolated hill called Monte Viale, it is seen to contain all
the species enumerated by Brongniart, among which the following

* Highly valued and esteemed by M. von Buch and all the geologists amd
palzontologists of his country, M. Ewald seems almost to shun publication. The
views which he put forth at the Venice meeting were eagerly caught up by all
his auditors. He has since written to me, insisting on the indisputable zoological
proofs that these deposits are eocene. He has not seen the species of Gryphza
which I collected in the Northern Alps, and which has been named G. vesi-
culosa, but he contends that the species of this genus known in the Vicentine,
and published by Brongniart as G. columba, is not a known cretaceous fossil.
At the same time he admits that the Terebratula caput-serpentis rises from
the chalk into the eocene deposits. It is to be hoped that M. Ewald will soon
be enabled to resume his journeys southwards, and thus complete a catalogue
of all the fossils of the nummulitic group, in which he has already made great

progress.
Bx

224 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SocIETY. [ Dec. 13,

fell under my own notice, Cerithium giganteum, Cerithium Mara-
schini (Brong.), (which M. Ewald assures me is the C. heragonum
(Brug.) of the Paris basin), Crassatella sulcata (Sow.), Nerita co-
noidea, Bulla Fortis. Among the conchifera are the Pholadomya
Puschii ? (Goldf.), the Cardium Therese of Nice, whilst the Spon-
dylus cisalpinus (Brong.) and certain Pectens are as common as in
the nummulitic rocks of the Northern Alps. The Echinoderms of
this tract are equally decisive of a supracretaceous deposit ; for they
chiefly belong to the genera Schizaster, Scutella and Echinolampas,
which are unknown in the chalk, but which also occur in the num-
mulitie deposits of Switzerland and Bavaria.

In an excursion through the lofty table-land of the Setti Communi,
I saw the lowest tertiary beds, containing Cerithium giganteum as
well as nummulites, reposing conformably on slightly inclined strata
of the red and white chalk or scaglia at the height of about 5000
feet above the sea. This position is expressed in the diagram (fig. 22),
which shows how the same movements of elevation and undulation
which threw the lower tertiary group into a vertical position on the
external flank of the cretaceous rocks at Bassano, had raised fragments
of it at Gallio, near Asiago, on the surface of similar rocks amid the
summits of the adjacent mountains. Again, in the Kalisberg moun-
tain which overlooks the city of Trent on the east, the uppermost
cliffs of sandy yellow limestone, which at a distance weather like
dolomites, were found by MM. von Buch, de Verneuil and myself to
be nummulitic rocks overlymg the jurassic and cretaceous systems*.
In these strata we collected the Nerita conoidea and Voluta ambigua,
well-known species of the calcaire grossier of Paris, together with
the Lucina Corbarica (Leym.), and several species of Echini, in-
cluding the Eupatagus ornatus (Desor), the Echinolampas subst-
milis (D’Archiac) and the Pygorhynchus subcylindricus (Ag.),
both of Biaritz, and the Echinocyamus profundus (Ag.) of the
nummulitic rocks of the Swiss Alps. At Sardagna (Trent) on the
opposite bank of the Adige, the nummulitic limestone with Echini,
Crustacea, Pectens, and the Spondylus cisalpinus so well known
at Castel Gomberto, &c., also overlies white inoceramus limestone ;
thus exhibiting precisely the same succession as at Sonthofen and
many other places in the North-western Alps. These nummu-
litic beds, according to M. Perini, occur also at the height of not
less than 7000 feet above the sea, in the peak of Monte Bondone,
to the south-west of Trent. The same tertiary deposits, therefore,
Which form mere hillocks on the south flank of the Alps, and which
in some places (Bassano, &c.) are raised conformably into vertical
walls, flanking the cretaceous rocks, have been carried up to great
altitudes within the chain, where they bear the same relation to the

cretaceous formation as the nummulitic rocks and flysch of Switzer-
land and the Northern Alps.

* In the museum of M. Menapace, of Trent, we observed the Inoceramus my-
tiloides and Terebratula subglobosa of the chalk, which that zealous collector, as
well as M. Perini, who accompanied us to the Kalisberg, assured us were inva-
riably found under the nummulitic rocks. Most of the fossils above cited were
found by M. Menapace.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 225

In resuming the consideration of the deposits which in the Vicentine
and adjacent countries overlie the scaglia or chalk, I may add that they
sometimes consist of strata, more or less sandy, which alternate with
marls and graduate up into sandier bands of greenish calcareous grit.

In some tracts so much green earth is disseminated in this series,
that near Schio where such is the case, and where the strata have been
inverted, as before said, by the porphyry, this band was considered
by the older geologists to be the secondary or cretaceous greensand.
Professor Catullo has shown, in a recent publication, to what a great
extension this zone attains in the Friuli. There it is characterized
by a Pholadomya, which is scarcely to be distinguished from the
P. margaritacea of the London clay*. Passing over for the present
all the next overlying strata in this section, which the palzeontologists
of our party believed would prove to be of miocene age when fully
examined, I have here only to repeat what I stated in my former
memoir of the year 1829, that the highest deposits of the whole series
contain many true subapennine shells, and that the beds in which they
lie are apparently linked on to those we are now considering.

In regard to Monte Bolca, near Verona, so famous for its fossil
fishes, I unhesitatingly affirm that it is of true lower tertiaryage. In
company with Sir C. Lyell I made sections of it and of the adjacent
Monte Postale in 1828, which leave no sort of doubt that the strata
are simply continuations of the eocene deposits of the adjacent Vicen-
tine. Marly, whitish and yellowish limestones, occasionally mottled
with bluish grey and brown colours, are on the whole subordinate
to bands or mounds of peperino, and are also distinctly traversed by
dykes of the igneous and basaltic rocks described by Brongniart.

Whilst the latter are certainly posterior, and have in many cases
altered the contiguous limestone, the peperino must, I conceive, be
viewed as the result of submarine volcanic dejections contemporaneous
with the other deposits, the heat attending the evolution of which
may have destroyed the fishes of a former well-tenanted bay of the
sea, just as on a recent occasion shoals of them were killed on the
coast of Sicily when Graham’s island arose from the deep. Notwith-
standing this abundance of eruptive matter, quite enough, however,
of the original sedimentary deposit remains to show, that it is entirely
distinct in lithological and zoological characters from any portion of
the scaglia or chalk which flanks it on the north. Thus, lignite coal
here occurs in the same position as cited in previous pages in the
Savoy and Swiss Alps, and at Val d’Agno and Monte Viale in the
adjacent Vicentine ; whilst the plants, including dicotyledonous trees,
palms, cocoa-nuts, and certain aquatic forms, are pronounced by Dr.
Unger to be eocene typest. Nummulites, indeed, occur between
the lower and upper fish-quarries, among which I collected the small
N. globulus and the N. millecaput, and with these are associated

* T have mislaid the note which I made concerning the other fossils of this
lower tertiary greensand, but besides Ostreze, I apprehend that it contains a
peculiar Gryphza, like the G. columba?? of Brongn. of Montecchio Maggiore.

ft See also M. Adolphe Brongniart’s description of some of the plants collected
by his father (Mém. du Mus. d’Hist. Nat. vol. viii. p, 343).

226 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [Dec. 13,

numerous Alveoline. Whilst mounds of peperino (occasionally how-
ever containmg nummulites) occupy the upper conical summits of
Monte Bolca, overlying the dislocated and variously inclined lime-
stones, true tertiary shells are seen both in the limestones of Monte
Bolca itself and of its neighbour Monte Postale. Among these shells
are Natica, Fusus, Buccinum, Ostrea and small Avicula, with Tere-
dina closely resembling the 7’. personata of the London clay. We
have thus abundant proof of the age of this deposit ; but when the
fishes are appealed to, they speak the same language still more deci-
sively than those of Glarus in Switzerland. Of the 133 species enu-
merated and described by Agassiz, many are, it is true, peculiar and
unknown elsewhere, but as at Glarus there are genera, and in much
greater quantity, which, wholly unknown in any secondary rock, are
still living in our seas ; viz. Fistularia, Vomer, Torpedo, Lophius, Dio-
don, Rhombus, Clupzea and Anguilla. The presence alone of many
species of herrings and eels completes the proofs drawn from other
sources, that the deposits of Monte Bolca, like all the other num-
mulitic rocks of the Alps, must be completely severed from the chalk,
and be considered a true lower tertiary formation.

Most geologists must, indeed, have been disposed to adopt this con-
clusion from the tabular arrangement of Agassiz, who, while the sub-
ject was still a matter of doubt, prudently placed the ichthyolites of
Monte Bolca, together with those of Monte Libanon, as a special
group between the cretaceous and tertiary deposits. I now, how-
ever, revert to the old opinion of Fortis, and definitively, I hope,
class the Bolca deposit as a true lower tertiary rock.

I may terminate this portion of the memoir by saying, that when
we compare the Vicentine and Veronese eocene deposits with the
nummulitic rocks of the Savoy, Swiss and Bavarian Alps, we find
as much assimilation as can be expected to occur in deposits of the same
age, but of dissimilar composition, which lie at some distance from
each other, and have manifestly been separated by intervening lands.
In both, the true equivalents of the chalk are overlaid by limestones,
in which some of the same species of nummulites appear interstratified
with and overlaid by deposits in which are many of the same shells ;
whilst the most striking parallelism is marked by the abundant
echinoderms of the two regions—all quite distinct from those of the
preceding era. In short, the deposits on the south as on the north
slopes of the Alps are proved, by their organic remais and superposi-
tion to rocks containing chalk fossils, to be of the lower tertiary age,
provided the groundwork of the classification previously adopted by
geologists be not entirely changed.

In many natural sections, where the disruptions so frequent in this
chain have not interfered, the evidences are complete as to a former
continuous deposit from the surface of those strata in which any cre-
taceous fossils are discernible, through a vast series of strata in which
all the vestiges of life belong to a new era. What then can these
nummulite deposits, whether in the Vicentine or in the Swiss Alps,
be, but true eocene? If there be geologists who are not swayed by the
evidences of organic remains only, still they must surely be influenced

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 227

by the existence of a great, conformable and continuous succession of
finely laminated strata, the deposit of which being clearly proved to
begin after the accumulation of the limestones with true chalk fossils,
has gone on uninterruptedly during long ages. The united group of
the nummulite limestone and flysch of the Swiss Alps, as well as the
great nummulitic and shelly accumulations of the Vicentine, are in-
deed more stupenduous monuments to mark the lapse of ¢zme than
any of the so-called eocene deposits in Northern Europe. This phee-
nomenon of a fuller eocene development, at least of all its lower part,
in Southern Europe, is quite consonant with the facts elicited by the
geologist. In Northern Europe a hiatus is very generally seen be-
tween the surface of the chalk and the lowest eocene, occasioned
doubtless by very considerable disturbance at that era. In number-
less places the surface of the chalk has been abraded by the action of
tumultuous waves, and the strata have been dislocated before the
tertiary strata were accumulated thereon: not so originally in the
Alps. There, the submarine deposits having in many parts been
continuous throughout both periods, we are necessarily presented
(where subsequent dislocations have not obscured them) with a
grander series of strata. In regard to the enormous thickness of
“‘flysch”’ which overlies the zone of nummulites and other recogni-
zable fossils, and in which very little of organic form, save fucoids and
a few fishes’ teeth and scales, and an occasional cast of a shell, have
been detected, we can scarcely say more than that, from the inti-
mate association and intercalation of these rocks with nummulites,
we must presume that they were simply the copious accumulations of
a deep sea of that zera in which animal life was scarce. It is however
to be noted, that the well-preserved ichthyolites of the Glarus slates,
which unquestionably occur in one of the lower bands of flysch, are
highly important evidences, and not less so that they are accompanied
by the bones of a bird and a tortoise. The fishes of Monte Bolca,
their position and their association with nummulites, enjoin still more
forcibly the same conclusion. The fucoids of this deposit are indeed
of little value in geological classification. For although in the Swiss
and Bavarian Alps they mark, as far as I know, the upper portion of
the group we are now considering, there are forms said to be similar
in the Italian Alps which occur in the grey or lower chalk beneath
the red scaglia. And this is just what we might expect; it being
almost an established law in the distribution of organic remains, that
the higher the organization the more neatly defined is its stratigra-
phical horizon. Vegetables of so low a class as fucoids, and so
adapted for enduring physical changes, may therefore have continued
to live on in spite of those grand mutations which may have often
interfered with animal life.

It may be objected that the “ flysch”? of the North-western and
Austrian Alps is not obviously displayed in the same mineral form
on the flanks of the Southern and Venetian Alps. But even there
the yellowish and green sandstone, and bands of marl and schistose
limestone which are associated with the nummulite zone, may well
be viewed as representatives of the North Alpine flysch. It is, in

228 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

fact, from the identity of the rocks, and the belief in a similar position
of the Italian macigno (upper) and the flysch of the Swiss, that
M. Studer has recently styled the latter “macigno alpin.” In
treating of the Carpathians and Apennines it will, however, be shown
to what a limited extent the “ grés des Carpathes,”’ and the Italian
**macigno,” are to be identified with the nummulitic or lower tertiary
flysch ; for in both these regions it happens, that the same lithological
type of sandstones (often green) pervades vast thicknesses of strata,
some of which are of upper secondary and others of lower tertiary age.

On the younger Tertiary Rocks of the Alps, and on the extent to
which they represent the Miocene and Pliocene of Geologists.

In all parts of the Northern Alps there are evident signs of a
marked interval between the last-formed strata of eocene age and the
next overlying deposits, which every one has admitted to be tertiary.
In contrast with the apparent conformable superposition of the over-
lying tertiary strata to the eocene on the flanks of the Venetian Alps
near Bassano, already alluded to, and in parts of Italy te which I
shall afterwards advert, the general phenomenon along the northern
edge of the Alps, is that of a grand dislocation between such masses.
In other words, it is clear that between the upper portion of the
“flysch,” and the lower portion of any tertiary formation of subse-
quent date, there is so great a break and unconformity as quite suffi-
ciently to aecount for the absence either of the uppermost eocene, or
of the lower part of the miocene of other countries.

Professor Studer, who has so long and so minutely studied the
molasse and nagelflue of his native country, has as yet im vain sought
for any section which exhibits a physical connection between the base
of these deposits of molasse and the upper portion of the strata we
have been considermg. Thus dissevered from pre-existing strata, the
molasse and nagelflue conglomerates are constantly thrown up at all
angies of inclination, not only to verticality, but beyond it; and on
lines usually parallel to the direction which has been impressed on the
pre-existing masses of the chain, viz. from W.S.W. to E.N.E. The
manner in which many of these tertiary conglomerates and molasse
have been so placed against the flanks of the chain will be presently
considered. In the meantime, whilst I acknowledge my incapacity
to work out the subject completely, let us see what can be gathered
from fossil evidences respecting the true age of these deposits.

In Styria* there is, indeed, a general ascending series, from a base

* The account of the tertiary deposits of the Styrian Alps, by Sedgwick and
self (Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. iii. 2nd series, p. 382), has recently received a
great addition in the description of their fossil plants by Dr. Unger of Gratz. (See
Leonhard and Bronn, Jahrbuch, 1841, p. 505, and Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. v.
Part 2. p.11.) That author enumerates nearly 150 species from one bed only of
lignite at Parschlug, all of which are of lost forms. Besides many Dicotyledonous
trees of genera common in Europe, there are genera which require a climate as
warm as South America, whilst others resemble the fauna of the United States
and table-land of Mexico. On the whole, Dr. Unger believes that these plants,

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 229

with partial conglomerates, the whole reposing upon older rocks,
and dipping away under the younger deposits of the adjacent lower
countries. But when we pass to the north flank of the Alps, par-
ticularly in Bavaria and Switzerland, the physical relations are mani-
festly different.

In speaking of Switzerland I must not only refer to the well-known
and excellent work of M. Studer on the Molasse, but also to the valu-
able additions to it recently made by M. Arnold Escher de Linth*.
In the former we have set before us numerous derangements of this
great deposit, and also the variations in its composition in different
tracts. In the grand pebbly accumulations of the Rigi, for example,
several thousand feet of which are clearly exposed, there are pebbles
of granite and porphyry whose parent rocks+ are now wholly un-
known to the mineralogist inthe Alps. At the same time it is clear,
that the chief heaps of such materials have been derived from the
well-known adjacent ridge of secondary limestone, mixed up with an
extraordinary quantity of “ flysch,’ which rock has also afforded
materials for a large portion of the calcareous sandy matrix of the
nagelflue. M. Escher points out that this great system of nagelflue
and molasse is divisible into three zones. The lowest visible portion
of the inferior zone is exposed along a great axial line, which, accord-
ing to M. Escher, passes from near Rheineck on the north-east, by
Herisau, Watteville, Jonen east of Rapperschwyl, on the north bank
of the lake of Zurich, and Hutten on the south-west. Thence it runs
between the lakes of Egeri and Zug immediately to the north of the
city of Lucerne, whence it is presumed it may be followed further to
the south-west, to the west end of the lake of Thun and the valley of
the Sulg. Along this line molasse sandstone is seen in vertical or
highly-inclined positions, throwing off overlying conglomerates of
enormous thickness. If the masses of nagelflue which constitute the
Rigi mountain near Lucerne, and the still loftier Speer (figs. 12 &
14, pp. 195, 200) near Wesen be included in one group, their thickness
must be enormous, certainly exceeding 6000 or 8000 feet. This axial
line trends from W.S.W. to E.N.E., and is, I would remark, perfectly

which I examined in his company in the museum of Gratz, bespeak a Medi-

terranean climate and a miocene age. It is eighteen years since J furnished

= Adolphe Brongniart with the plants of the Haring tertiary coal deposit in the
yrol.

* For M.A. Escher’s account of the molasse of Eastern Switzerland see Mit
theilungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zurich, No. 7, May 1847. In this
memoir M. Escher states, that although a powerful deposit of marine molasse
(not less than 1000 feet thick near Berne) is interpolated between the lower and
upper freshwater molasse and nagelflue, he is unaware of any zoological distinction
in the two last-mentioned members of this great series. 4 warm climate, which
permitted the growth of palms and large Cycadee, seems to have prevailed during
the whole of the molasse period, and the species of Helix, Lymnea, Planorbis,
Melania, appear to be the same in the strata above as well as in those below the
marine molasse.

+ Professor Studer believes that the parent granite, from whence such pebbles
were derived, protruded along the great line of dislocation between the molasse
and the chain, and was lost by subsidence en masse when the great accumulations
of nagelflue were formed.—(Letter to myself.)

230 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [ Dec. 13,

parallel to the great band of cretaceous rocks, nummulite and flysch
before described, to which the strata of the nagelflue and molasse are
entirely unconformable. Nor does this line of dislocation cease at
the eastern end of Switzerland. It continues, as before stated, in
the same direction, from near Bregenz to Immenstadt in Bavaria,
where it affects the huge tertiary masses, often vertical and some-
times dipping both to the north and south, in which Professor
Sedgwick and myself have described several transverse sections be-
tween Bregenz on the south-west, and the subalpine ridges south of
Munich on the E.N.E., in which micaceous sandstones with marls,
shales, conglomerates and courses of lignite occur, as in Switzerland.
In some Bavarian strata of this age we found freshwater shells, 7. e.
Cyclades and Potamides, mingled with marine forms*. On the whole,
however, we detected so very few fossils in these vast accumulations,
that, simply connecting these rocks with the molasse and nagelflue of
Switzerland, we then said that whatever conclusions Professor Studer
or other geologists might establish, by help of fossils, respecting the
Swiss formations, might be extended to a portion of the newer Bava-
rian deposits. Now, in what is called the lower group, particularly
as seen in the canton of St. Gallen and along the axial line above
cited, no trace having been found of anything organic except lignite
with terrestrial plants, and land or fluviatile shells with bones of
extinct land quadrupeds, M. Escher justly considers it to be a fresh-
water formation.

Whatever may be the dimensions of the lower (freshwater and
estuary) member of this series, it is overlaid by molasse, sandstone
and marls of considerable thickness, which contain a great variety
of marine speciest. I submit a collection to the Society which I
obtained from Professor Deicke at St. Gallen, near which place they
abound. In examining the strata there, in company with that
gentleman and Professor Brunner, I perceived that the shells chiefly
occurred in beds of sandy, micaceous blue marls, which alternate
with sandstones, and are intercalated with large accumulations of
pebbly conglomerates. The following may be enumerated as among
the characteristic fossils which occur at St. Gallen, but more complete
lists must hereafter be given; viz. Solen vagina, Linn.; Panopea
Fawjasi, Menard ; Cardium multicostatum, Broc. ; Venerupis eremita
(Venus, Broc.) ; Venericardia Jouanetti?, Desh.; Pinna nobilis,
Broce. ; Pecten scabrellus, Broc.; P. latissimus, Broc.; Conus tur-
ricula (Broc.), with other species of that genus; Turritella terebra,
Broce, ; 7. vermicularis ; Pyrula reticulata, Lamk.; Natica canrena
(Nerita, Broc.); Phorus agglutinans, Lamk., as well as species of the
genera Pholas, Venus, Cardium, Dentalium, Serpula, Balanus, &c.t

The sections of St. Gallen (as pointed out to me by Professor

* These beds are described in Geol. Trans. 2nd Ser. vol. iii. pp. 326, 329, 370.

+ For the general relations of these freshwater and marine strata of the molasse
see the woodcut, fig. 14, p. 200.

+ Whether these St. Gallen fossils be called older pliocene or younger miocene
is immaterial to me, as I only seek to show that among them are numerous exist-
ing marine species. (See subsequent observations.)

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 231

Deicke) exhibit the strata with marine shells intercalated between
freshwater deposits, which contain the Melania Escheri (Merian)
and Planorbis hispidus, Pupa, Melanopsis, and small Potamides, with
seams of lignite, &c.

The enumeration of the fossils of the marine molasse of St. Gallen,
though far from being complete (not more than a third of the species I
saw are mentioned), is I think sufficient to prove that these beds are
of nearly the same age as the blue subapennine marls of Italy, and
therefore of what has been called the older pliocene age. The marine
shelly beds of the molasse in the canton of Berne, also low in the
series, are equally referred by Professor Studer to this age ; for al-
though the shells there are neither so well preserved nor so numerous
as at St. Gallen, the presence of the Panopea Faujasi, Pecten lati-
costatus (Brod.), Cyprina Islandica, Tellina tumida (Brong.), all
characteristic shells of the subapennine deposits amidst those which
are recognizable, leaves little doubt on the subject. In Berne, as in
St. Gallen and Zurich, the marine beds in question surmount (accord-
ing to Professor Studer) a widely-spread lower freshwater deposit.

In the canton Vaud, where remains of tortoises, crocodiles and
extinct quadrupeds occur, the order of superposition and relations of
the different masses of the molasse are obscurely seen, particularly in
the undulating region between the lakes of Neufchatel and Geneva.
Still it is right to observe, that in the environs of Vevey, where mo-
lasse and conglomerate abound, no traces of any marine remains have
been found ; the only fossil indeed known there being a Palmacites
of some size, detected by M. Collon*. There the tertiary conglomerate
and molasse are truncated, and with an inverted dip (fig. 4, p. 182)
seem to dip under the adjacent secondary rocks as in the diagrams
(figs. 12 & 14, pp. 195, 200), though here they are in contact with
rocks of the age of the Oxfordian Jura.

That marie strata overlie freshwater conglomerates, is indeed
clearly perceived in the environs of Chambery and other parts of
Savoy. The Canon Chamousset accompanied me to sections, where a
conglomerate made up of the detritus of the adjacent neocomian lime-
stones contains freshwater shells and lignite. In that tract, where
all the intervening strata, representing the gault, upper greensand,
chalk, nummulitic limestone and flysch, are absent, the freshwater
conglomerate reposes at once on the secondary neocomian limestones
from whence its materials have been derived, and passes upward into
the marine molasse, as exposed in the woodcut (fig. 5, p. 184).

This lower freshwater accumulation in Savoy is not less than
1000 feet thick. Its lowest beds consist of limestone conglomerates
followed by red marls and marlstone with green veins and spots, and
occasional gypsum. Then follow other calcareous pebble bands, con-
taining subordinate courses of marly limestone with freshwater shells.

* M. Blanchet of Lausanne has a rich collection of fossils from these fiuvio-
lacustrine deposits of the canton de Vaud. He believes that these mixed deposits
are of different ages, each varying according to its proximity or remoteness from
the chain of mountains from which it was washed into the bay by rivers (see his
Supplement).

232 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 13,

The latter are surmounted by marly sandy beds, approaching in cha-
racter to molasse, which gradually pass up into the true marine
molasse.

The marine molasse of the cantons St. Gallen and Zurich dips to the
N.W., and is clearly surmounted by enormous accumulations which
constitute the upper nagelflue, and throughout which nothing but ter-
restrial or freshwater remains have been detected, the species, of the
genera Melania, Helix, Planorbis, Lymnea, being apparently undistin-
guishable from those of the nagelflue and molasse beneath the marine
strata. It is probably this great upper member which is for the
most part thrown into the remarkable inverted position exhibited in
the diagrams figs. 12 & 14. Ina portion of this upper member at
Kapfnach, and in the Albis Hills near Zurich, are found freshwater
beds, in which Helices and seeds of Chara occur together with the
bones of Mastodon angustidens, Paleomeryx, Orygotherium Escheri,
Chalicomys Jigeri, Cervus lunatus, Hyotherium medium, Rhinoceros
Schinzii, all species recently described by M. Herman von Meyer.
In the same deposit, leaves of Acer as well as parts of palmaceous
plants are seen*.

Again, molasse and conglomerate occur in still higher positions ;
z.e. m the summits of the ranges near Zurich, where the pebbly beds
are very cavernous, and have given rise to the name of “ lochrige
Nagelfiuh ;” but no characteristic organic remains have been found
in it.

In following the surfaces of these vast accumulations as they recede
from their dislocated and highly inclined positions on the flanks of the
Alps into the great trough which extends up to the Jura, we find the
beds becoming more and more horizontal, in which position they
range up to the edges of the latter mountains. The same order of
strata is however observable, and every here and there we see—notably
near Baden in Switzerland—courses of marine shelly marls and sands
charged with the same group of subapennine fossilst and covered by
freshwater nagelflue.

The vegetable remains of the molasse seem all to be referable to a
warm or Mediterranean climate, and they are all extinct species. To
this consideration I shall presently revert.

* The Mastodon angustidens occurs at several other localities, viz. Buchberg,
Elgg, Greit, &c. The Rhinoceros incisivus is found at Elgg, and the Rhinoceros
Schinzii (Herm. v. Meyer) was extracted from nagelflue at Bolingen, near the foot
of the Albis, where it is associated with Unio Escheri and extinct species of
Paludina, Melania, &c. Molasse fossils, including tortoises, are also in force at
Winterthur. This upper group of molasse with mammalia is clearly separated from
the horizontal older alluvia of these regions, of which there is a fine example at
Utznach, in which the Elephas primigenius or mammoth occurs, with land and
freshwater shells, and pines, and other vegetables of existing forms.

+ See the list of these fossils in the excellent monograph of the Baden country,
by Professor Mousson of Zurich, ‘‘Geologische Skizze der Umgebungen von
Bade im Canton Aargau von Alb. Mousson, Zurich, 1840.” In this work the
reader will find a very instructive tabular arrangement of all the jurassic and
underlying rocks, which are very closely paralleled by fossil species with the
oolitic deposits of England.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 233

Freshwater Deposits of Giningen.

In following the surface of the uppermost beds of the nagelflue and
molasse from the lofty hills which flank the chain of the Hoher Sentis,
&c., the formation as it spreads over the lower grounds, extending
from thence, and from the lake of Zurich to the lake of Constance
and the Rhine, is chiefly characterized (where fossils and lignites have
been detected) as a great terrestrial or estuary deposit. On the right
bank of the Rhine, between Constance and Schaffhausen, the cele-
brated freshwater deposit, which I visited for the third time, has,
it still appears to me, been formed in a depression of pre-existing
molasse and nagelflue*. In revisiting this locality I was anxious to
see what discoveries had been made, and what influence they might
have, in conjunction with the recent description of the fossils, on the
conclusions respecting the age of that formation which I formerly
entertamed. In regard to its overlying position I am happy to say
that my former general view is supported by M. Studer, M. Escher,
and all the Swiss geologists; viz. that these freshwater sands, marls
and limestones are younger than the chief masses of molasse and
nagelflue of Switzerland. As in my previous communication a very
small woodcut only was given, I beg to annex another which better
represents my present ideas.

Wangen.

Rhine.

. Marls and detritus (with volcanic tuff of Escher).

. Upper quarries of freshwater limestone.

. Lower quarries of freshwater limestone.

. Regenerated soft molasse (marine molasse of Escher).

mb OO Oe

The area over which the sandy marls, marlstone and limestone of this
deposit extend, is of much greater dimensions than the spots where
quarries have been opened and wherein the fossils have been found.
This area, as far as it can be traced, is of an elongated elliptical form,
extending with the Rhine from Berlingen, on the right bank of the
river, to Wangen and (Eningen near Stein on the left bank, a distance
of not less than ten miles from east to west. This is inferred because
freshwater shells have been found in the soft recomposed sandstone of
Berlingen, which rock is of the very same character as that which

* On this occasion I was accompanied by Professor Brunner. For my previous
description of @iningen see Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. 2nd Ser. vol. iii. p. 277. In the
little woodcut there given the surrounding molasse and nagelflue were indicated by
inclined lines, though | then knew perfectly that in this tract such strata were not
there inclined. These lines were only inserted to mark more strongly my belief that
such rocks, so highly inclined in the neighbouring country, were of age anterior to
the overlying marls and limestones of (Eningen. See also the account of this
deposit by M. Eschervon der Linth, given by Herman von Meyer in his Palzologica,
1845, and my observations thereon, Journal of the Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. ili. p. 54.

234 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

forms the bottom of the so-called Giningen deposit (1). The ancient
lacustrine expanse may indeed have occupied much of the broad valley
now filled by the Rhine and the Unter See or lower lake; so that it
is difficult to define its former limits on the E. and N.E.* To the
south, however, and to the west and north-west it was manifestly
bounded by hills of hard pre-existing nagelflue, whose summits are
surmounted by erratic blocks only. No one can ascend the indestruc-
tible rock of nagelflue from which the castle of Hohenklingen over-
looks the town of Stein, and then examine the edges of the contigu-
ous freshwater accumulation, without coming to this conclusion. It
is, indeed, evident that the lacustrine deposit was bounded by these
hard rocks. The lowest beds of the Giningen basin, as seen in the
ravines between Stein and Wangen, and in the lower terraces under
the plateau of fossil limestones and marls exhibited in the preceding
woodcut, are incoherent, micaceous, light-grey sands, with an ocea-
sional concretion (1) fig. 27. They are, in fact, regenerated molasse,
and have been compounded out of the hard dark-coloured molasse
building-stone, to which they have much the same resemblance, as the
sands on the shore of a lake to the sandstone cliff on its sides from
whence they have been derived. This is, I repeat, exactly the same
soft stone as that which recurs at Berlingen, between Constance and
Stockhorn, on the opposite bank of the Rhine, and where freshwater
shells are found in it.

In ascending from Wangen to the quarries, a considerable thickness
of these sands is exposed, and at their summit they inosculate with
marly and calcareous courses, in which the lower quarries (now very
little worked) are opened. Their strata (2) consist, on the whole, of
alternations of recomposed, light-grey, micaceous, calcareous molasse,
with thinly laminated, dark-grey marlstone and limestones of con-
choidal fracture, which are highly fetid under the hammer. Though
of irregular persistence and somewhat broken, these beds (the upper
part of which is ferruginous) incline slightly to the west, or away
from the valley of the Rhine to which they present their edges, and
by which inclination they are carried under all the limestone and
marl of the plateau. Among the fossils which they have afforded
are the Paleomeriz of V. Meyer, together with portions of tortoises ;
but owing to the concretionary form of the beds and the irregularity
of their composition (7. e. sand and marlstone inosculating), the fossils
are neither so well preserved, nor so much sought after, as in the over-
lying quarries of flat bedded character.

Rising gently along the inclined surface of the plateau above the
lower quarry, the substrata around the dome-shaped ground of
Solenhofen are seen to consist of similar rocks passing upwards into
marlstones or limestones, which at the distance of about three-quarters

* M. A. Escher de Linth makes the freshwater beds extend northwards by
Schienen to the valley of the Aach. I did not revisit that portion of the ground, but
I have perfect confidence in his section. The recent discovery, however, of fresh-
water shells in the underlying band at Berlingen (since M. Escher wrote) decides
the nature of the band (1) of my section, which he termed with doubt “ Meere’s ?
molasse.”” (See Fauna der Vorwelt von H. v. Meyer, 1845, p. 49.)

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS, 235

of a mile from the lower quarry are fully displayed in the upper
quarry *, the descending order in which is as follows :—

Ft. In.
Soft and decomposing bluish grey and white marls used as brick earth,
the lower portion consisting of courses from two to eight inches thick,

of finely laminated marlstones with very thin laminz of chert, about . 20 0
Soft bed in which the tooth of a mastodon has been found ..............0065 1 6
Fish-bed (marly limestone), fishes abundant ....0.......s08..000 pened sEssccesis 0 2
Insect-bed (very finely laminated) ............ccecseoccescsscccvceccsccesecceenes 0..2
“« Kleine und grosse Moden,” stone bands with a few fishes ........+......08 4 0
“ Salamander Platten,” in which the Andrias Scheuchzeri was found ; fishes

MME PURE Cae Ne weak edo seat eeoels Uuklodc wascsduvessscuescscdeacwateeteduces 0 5
*‘ Schildkrot schicht,” or tortoise-bed, in which the Chelydra Murchisoni

ENE A CENCE ie larics. oh cee Sa ctaln deh aod xs Gaile.ss Ssiniedo wide 6b an'duls ONG vo Beg bean 0 6
Shale or marl, varying from two or three inches in one part to two feet in

Re ete er ke Seen ocean cco en val craminn cain nap adedecnestinns nistey as «0 ro
“ Diehl Stein,” or plank-bed, so called because it breaks into long thin

AMMA SAE. Ree 102002 anced eee asb lc cbabcepsate sad civdeedsewacnsnenve } 6
Fox-bed, i.e. the marly limestone enclosing the Galecynus Cningensis ... 0 4
Fish-bed with numerous fishes, frogs, and several small quadrupeds......... 0 6
* Kessel Stein,” or bottom beds of the quarry loaded with plants and the

ieenawater Shells” ANOGONGA .i5 i. cotcccenesarsec cece sscccsseessevecsecess rt 2

High as it may be in the geological series, and posterior as it cer-
tainly is to the marine strata of St. Gallen and Baden with certain
existing species of sea shells, the Giningen deposit is not, however, as
I formerly supposed, a link between extinct and existing nature. In-
deed, whilst I expressed that opinion, I contended that stupendous
changes had occurred since this lacustrme matter was accumulated.
I showed to what a depth the valley of the Rhine had been subse-
quently excavated, and how the drift, erratic blocks, and loss had after-
wards been deposited ; but judging from the best opinions I could
then obtain from naturalists respecting the characters of the animals,
whether quadrupeds, fishes, shells or sects, or from the plants, I
was led to think that they very nearly approached, and in some cases
were undistinguishable from, living forms.

More precise researches, however, lead to a very different conclusion.
Amidst the multitude of well-preserved fossils, not one, it is now said,
is strictly identifiable with an existing species. The closest analogy,
indeed, exists between the manner in which the animals and vegeta-
bles have been entombed in the mud of this former lake and that
which would still prevail. The fossil insects Blatta and Nepa are
there found, as I formerly said+, collocated with remains of the

* On this occasion we were so fortunate as to find the present proprietor of
the quarries, M. Barth, busily directing his workmen, and as he has made re-
searches for many years, I took down the description of each stratum from him.
M. Barth having been unfortunate in trade now devotes himself exclusively to the
extraction of the rarer fossils, and in preparing suites of them for sale. M. de
Seyfried of Constance possesses the most perfect of the collections of the @ningen
fossils with which I am acquainted, all found since I last visited that country. In
it I observed five noble specimens of Andrias Scheuchzeri (Homo diluvii testis),
Lagomys Eningensis, Chelydra Murchisoni, and another species of tortoise un-
described ; and among many splendid fishes an eel three feet long, the Coluber
Owen, the tooth of the Mastodon angustidens, &c.

+ Trans. Geol. Soc. London, 2nd Ser. vol. iii. p. 286.

236 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

leaves of the same genus of tree on which they still live; but the spe-
cies are distinct from those now prevailing. On this poit I quote
the opinion of Professor Heer of Zurich. That zealous entomologist
assured me, that out of 120 species of Coleoptera, 40 species of Neu-
roptera and 80 species of Hymenoptera (60 of the latter. belonging
to Formica), he has not, after the most rigid microscopic comparisons,
been able to detect a single form, either aquatic or terrestrial, which
can be identified with species now living in any part of the globe.
Some of them, indeed, make close approaches to species now living in
America and the Mediterranean, including Algeria, and some genera
(at least six) are entirely new*.

Professor Agassiz classes the fishes of Giningen much in the same
category, and the same may be said of the numerous quadrupeds,
whether those so elaborately and well described by M. Herman von
Meyer, or the extinct form of the Viverridee named by Professor
Owen Galecynus Einingensis, or the “ Fossil Viverrine Fox of Ginin-
gen}. Even in regard to the plants, it does not appear that any can
be identified with living forms; for although M. Géppert has said
that he can discover no difference in one case between the cone of a
pine of Giningen and the cone of the living Pinus sylvestris, he
admits that without further evidence as to the glands and leaves, no
proof can be obtained that it is not an extinct species.

Such being the facts, how are we henceforward to classify with
certainty, tertiary deposits which have been formed on land, in relation
to those which have been accumulated in the sea? In the latter, or
the marine Swiss molasse, we find that strata formed anterior to the
Giningen deposit contain shells of the subapennine cera, many, or
some at all events, of which are now living in our seas{ ; whilst the
land and fluviatile animals of posterior date are all distinct from those
now inexistence. In reviewing the molasse and nagelflue as a whole,
the evidence, as far as it goes, teaches us, that the formation was in
many tracts almost entirely formed by rivers or in lakes; whilst in
other parts, as near Berne and St. Gallen, there were powerful inter-
calations of deposits formed in bays of the sea. If then we consider
the whole as a connected series, and admit that in the lowest as well
as in the highest strata, and even up to the regenerated molasse and
marls of Giningen, the land remains belong to extinct species, still we

* Professor Heer’s monograph of the fossil insects of @ningen will, I doubt not,
interest all entomologists as well as geologists, by the knowledge it exhibits of
every analogy and comparison which can be set up between these fossils and the
living forms of insects. Professor Heer intends to describe in a subsequent work
the insects of Aix en Provence and other tracts.

+ The animal collected by myself, and described as a fox by Mantell, is now
named by Owen Galecynus Gningensis, or the “ Fossil Viverrine Fox of Gningen.”
See Journal of the Geol. Soc. London, vol. iii. p. 55, with anatomical woodcuts.

t{ I here conform to the more generally received opinion concerning pliocene
marine shells as advocated by Sir C. Lyell and M. Deshayes. M. Cantraine indeed
believes that nearly all the true pliocene or subapennine species are still living (see
Malacologie Mediterranienne et Littorale, Acad. de Bruxelles, tom. xii. des Mém.
1840). On the other hand, however, it is right to state, that M. Agassiz contends
that no animal having the exact form of a fossil tertiary mollusk is now living in
our seas.

1818.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 237

have the remarkable fact, that in the subordinate marine masses many
of the shells are living species.

This discrepancy in the evidences drawn from terrestrial and ma-
rine sources has already created divergent opinions respecting the age
of strata among naturalists. Thus, judging from the vertebrata found
in the older freshwater deposits of the Rhine and other parts of
Germany, where marine evidences are wanting, M. Herman von
Meyer would class as eocene that which other geologists call miocene,
and he has naturally referred to the miocene age those very Giningen
freshwater and terrestrial strata so charged with lost types, but which,
as I now assert, were formed after the accumulations in which plio-
cene and living marine fossils occur.

This persistence of marine forms during a period in which a whole
terrestrial fauna became extinct—a period it will be recollected when
the proportion of the known remains of the land in reference to those
of the sea was infinitely larger than in earlier times—may lead us to
be cautious in deciding on the age of a secondary rock by the mere
characters of its fossil vegetables (see p. 178). At all events, the con-
tents of the upper tertiary deposits of Switzerland compel us to admit,
that in any classification of a terrestrial formation by the more or less
prevalence of existing types, not even the youngest of those Swiss
strata at Ciningen can be termed miocene or pliocene. So com-
pletely, indeed, do all its imbedded terrestrial animals seem to belong
to lost types, that we have not yet even authority to call them eocene,
although in reference to marine deposits they have been formed in
part out of the detritus of the marie eocene Alpme rocks! In ren-
dering our science exact, we must, therefore, I apprehend, classify
strata deposited in fresh water or on land separately from those of sub-
marine origin. In reference to the tertiary zra, we can only speak
of the former, as older or younger land formations ; since it is mani-
fest, that (without a total disregard of the meaning of the words)
we cannot apply to them the terminology employed to designate the
tertiary marine stages*.

Dislocations in the Alps.

The previous pages having been chiefly devoted to the detection of
the order in which the formations have been accumulated, I now
invite attention to some examples of those grand phzenomena of con-
tortion and fracture of the strata which specially characterize these
mountains. By whatever causes produced, these derangements are
so great, that geologists accustomed to work in less troubled regions
could scarcely have ventured to hope, that the Alps would have been
found to explain any portion of the succession in the earth’s deposits,
still less that they should contain, as I have endeavoured to show,
certain links to connect the secondary and tertiary rocks, which, if

* The commingling of lost types of large terrestrial animals with those of
species scarcely distinguishable from our own in the rich tertiary deposits of the
sub-Himalaya chain, is, also, a splendid example of the difficulty of synchronizing
such terrestrial accumulations with the marine tertiary deposits named eocene,
miocene, and pliocene.

VOL. V.—PART I. Ss

238 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [Dec. 13,

not entirely wanting, are, at all events, feebly exhibited in Northern
Europe. But passing from the survey of these valuable exceptional
cases, which have been left for our instruction, I will now point out a
few examples illustrative of the manner in which several consecutive
Alpine formations have been first convoluted, then often inverted, and
finally snapped asunder by enormous faults. To treat such a subject
in the manner it deserves would require much more detailed knowledge
than I possess, and the present notice must, therefore, only be viewed.
as affording data to assist in explaining the origin and progress of
such great mutations.

Let the geological features of any one region of the Alps be ap-
pealed to, and it will be seen, that whatever be the major axis of the
crystalline mass* in its centre, such also is the prevailing direction
of all the sedimentary deposits which lie on either side. Thus in
the Eastern Alps, we see two principal ellipsoidal ranges of granite,
the one extending from the Iffiger Spitze above Meran to the envi-
rons of Brunneckent, the other of nearly equal extent in the high
region near the sources of the Mur, and extending along the left
bank of that river to form the nucleus of the Noritian Alps. These
ellipses, trending from W.S.W. to E.N.E., mark distinctly the
major axis of the Eastern Alps; whilst to the south of Vienna the
prolongation of this axis is indicated in the nucleus of the Leitha
Gebirget. Now this direction from W.S.W. to E.N.E. is likewise
that which has been impressed on all the sedimentary masses of
these Eastern Alps, of transition, secondary or tertiary age, whether
they be successively examined northwards to the valley of the Da-
nube or southwards to the plas of Venice. Minor parallel ellip-
soids of crystalline rock, indeed, appear in the Venetian Alps both at
Recoaro and its neighbourhood and in the Cima d’Asti, which,
whether they be mica schists or granitic rocks, have the same rela-
tions to the enveloping younger sedimentary deposits. Such also are
the major axes of the great masses of crystalline rocks which occupy
the central tracts of the Tyrol, the chief part of the Alps of Lom-
bardy, and the nuclei of the Swiss Alps, and such also is the domi-
nant strike of all the associated sedimentary deposits in these regions.

To the west of the longitude of Berne the chain assumes more
of the north and south direction, and there again the sedimentary
rocks, toa great degree metamorphosed, run parallel to the axes of the
rude ellipses of Mont Cervin and Mont Blanc and their prolonga-
tions. And here it is to be remarked, that as we follow the chain
from N.E. to 8. W. we pass from the clearest types of the sedimentary
rocks, and at length in the Savoy Alps are immersed in the highly
altered mountains of secondary limestone before described. I am
unable to define the manner in which the chief axes of these moun-

* The word ‘ crystalline mass’ is meant to include granite, gneiss, mica schist,
marble, &c., and in short all rocks, whether formed by eruption or by metamor-
phism of pre-existing deposits, which are now in a crystalline condition.

tT M. von Buch specially called my attention to this ellipsoid of granite, around
which all the rocks are powerfully metamorphosed (see ante, p. 167).

t Trans. Geol. Soc. vol. iii. p. 303; and Map, pl. 35.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 239

tains trend in the Maritime Alps, where it would, however, almost seem
that they bend round so as to be confluent with the Apennines and
envelope the great depression of Piedmont and Lombardy ; thus de-
scribing a grand sweep, or in other words an outward semicircular
line, of which the Monferrato near Turin is the last external fold.
It is enough for my present purpose, to show, that whatever be the
direction of the chief crystalline axis of any one region in these moun-
tains, such is the dominant strike of the flankmg deposits. Now,
whether such axes are marked by the protrusion of granite, syenite,
or any other so-called eruptive rock, or are simply occupied by strata
which have been metamorphosed, it is manifest that some powerful
energy has been exerted throughout and along them, which action
has so affected all the sedimentary deposits on their sides, as to pro-
duce a parallelism to the central axes, both in anticlinal and synclinal
folds and in deep longitudinal fissures. If the valuable detailed maps
preparing by M. Studer were published, this fact would be seen as
respects Switzerland, and a glance at the admirable map of France of
De Beaumont and Dufrénoy amply explains my meaning in regard
to that highly dislocated portion of the chain which extends south-
westwards from the region around Mont Blane. For Piedmont and
Savoy the reader is referred to the good illustrations of Sismonda,
not yet, however, brought mto one view.

In treating of the whole chain it must be admitted, that the Swiss
and Savoy Alps have been most agitated; and it is in these most
convulsed tracts that we may perhaps best learn what has been the
nature of the movements of the strata and the order in which they
have followed each other. In parts it is clear, that from the ju-
rassic rocks to the “ flysch” inclusive, there has been a continuous
series of submarine deposits (see figs. 3, 4, 12, 14, and the group of
sections of Hoher Sentis, Plate VII.). Many deep denudations, in-
deed, expose the whole of this series in lofty mountains on either side
of deep valleys, each formation in conformable apposition. The most
remarkable fact in this collocation is, that all these strata from the
eocene downwards, have been thrown into undulations both rapid
and gentle, and sometimes have been so contorted as to produce ab-
solute inversions. I believe that such flexures were among the earliest
of the great physical changes impressed upon these submarine strata,
which, at the time when they were so bent, may I conceive have been
of no greater solidity and compactness than many of the soft deposits
which now constitute the crust of the earth in Russia* and other
countries, where the processes of induration and crystallization have
not been carried out. It seems to me, that however we may attempt
to detect the power which produced these folds and contortions, we
must admit that all the strata so folded together, had been accumu-
lated the one over the other under the sea (often continuously), and
could only have been slightly solidified before the operation com-
menced by which they all partook of common and conformable move-
ments of undulation.

In no part of the Alps, which I have examined, are the curvatures

* See Russia and the Ural Mountains, vol. i. passim.
Ss

‘

240 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. ([Dec. 13,

of the calcareous formations better exhibited than in the Altorf branch
of the Lake of the four cantons,—that noble transverse fissure which
penetrates so far into the heart of the chain (see fig. 12, p. 195). On
the mountain slopes (often vertical precipices) on both sides of this
deep cleft, various formations from the Oxfordian or Upper Jura (0),
near the water’s edge (Tell’s Chapel), through the lower and upper
neocomian, greensand, gault, and sewer-kalk, or equivalent of the
chalk, up to the nummulitic and flysch rocks, are all seen to be twisted,
and often conformably to each other, in numerous flexures, which
increase in rapidity and intensity (in the Achsenberg for example) as
you approach the centre of metamorphism (or towards St. Gothard),
and decrease as you recede from it. In other words, the folds open
out into broader and less complicated sweeps in proceeding from the
north slope of St. Gothard as a centre to the flanks of the chain,
where they expand into the canton of Lucerne. Some of these ex-
traordinary appearances near Altorf and in the escarpments of the
adjacent lake have been figured in two coloured diagrams by Dr.
Lusser+. Faithfully delineating what he saw, and judging from the
order of superposition, that author concluded, that rocks with green
earth and nummulites were repeated several times over in the series,
and that these fossils existed in strata (occasionally crystalline) of
considerable antiquity, as well as in younger beds. The effort which
Dr. Lusser made to classify the rocks of this disturbed tract by mi-
neral characters and apparent order of superposition has, I need
scarcely say, proved invalid ; for as soon as you extricate the nummu-
litic zone from the labyrinth in which it is involved in the Achsenberg
near Altorf (see fig. 12, p. 195 ante) and follow it out towards the
N.N.W., it is seen to fold regularly over upon the surface of the
cretaceous rocks, first in the sharp and partially broken synclinal of
Syssikon, then in the dome or anticlinal of the mountain above Brun-
nen, and next in the broader synclinal of the valley of the Muotta.
The precipitous faces of rock on the sides of the lake of Altorf
are indeed most instructive, in showing us the intimate connection
between the chief axial line, the folds of the strata and the lines of
fracture. In one portion of the lake, nearly midway between Brun-
nen and Fluelen, the centre of the folds of one of the masses appears
in the opposite cliffs, and thus marks the general strike of such con-
tortions to be parallel to the axis, or E.N.E. and W.S.W.; whilst a
line of fracture equally visible on both sides of the transverse fissure is
also parallel to the same (see x, fig. 12). In short, the order of
operations seems undoubtedly to have been, first contortion and then
fracture ; the nuclei, or inner rolls of the folds, and the lines of dislo-
t Nachtragliche Bemerkungen zu der geognostischen Forschung und Dar-
stellung der Alpen, vom St. Gothard bis am Zuger-See. Swiss Transactions, vol. i.
p. 44. Although he does not appear to have noticed organic remains in these
mountains, De Saussure has described some of their remarkable flexures and
breaks. He speaks of the calcareous strata of the Achsenberg as exhibiting the
form of the letter S several times repeated with fractures, and reminds us that
Vallisnieri in his ‘ Origine delle Fontane’ had remarked upon these grotesque
outlines. He also mentions a great bend in the form of a C from which the strata

extend horizontally below.—Voy. dans les Alpes, vol, iv. § ix. 1933 et seg. (see
my fig. 13),

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 241

cation being parallel to each other and to the great axis of the chain.
In tracing some of these folds, we see so clearly that an upper stratum
has been twisted under one of greater antiquity (and which underlies
it at a little distance), that we thus learn a lesson on the small scale
which we may endeavour to apply to extensive masses; whilst some
of the fractures are observed to have taken place along those portions
of the flexure which have least resisted. As my chief attention was
specially given to the cretaceous and supracretaceous rocks and their
relations, I seldom endeavoured to grapple with the accumulation of
obscurities, including metamorphism, which present themselyes as
the observer approaches the watershed of the chain ; it having been
sufficient for my purpose to note how the strata in question were un-
coiled as they rolled over in great undulations from the centre to the
flank. In continuation therefore of a description of the transverse
section which passes from Altorf to the N.N.W. (fig. 12), I must in
justice say, that, as far as mere outline goes, the undulations seem to
conform to the wave-like progression so ably laid down by Professors
Henry Rogers and W. Rogers in their map and sections of the Appa-
lachian chain. In other words, the steeper sides of the anticlinal are
the most remote from the axis, whilst the longer and less inclined
face of each anticlinal faces the chain. This is observed first at Sys-
sikon, and next it is remarkably well seen near the mouth of the
Muotta-thal, the structure of which has been described. The num-
mulitic and cretaceous rocks on the south side of this valley are highly
inclined and almost vertical, whilst on the north side they slope at
the gentle angle of 20° to 25°. In the next grand curvature of these
masses, or towards the Rigi, a tremendous dislocation has occurred *,
by which, in fact, the younger portion of the nagelflue and molasse
of pliocene age is brought with an inverted dip against the escarp-
ment of the lower cretaceous rocks in the manner described in the
above diagram. Doubtless this last is a fault of many thousand feet.
The axis of the molasse external to the chain, runs parallel to it, as
before mentioned, in the environs of Lucerne. Throughout an inter-
mediate distance of several miles there is a development of all those
massive and inclined strata of conglomerate and sandstone which
form the Rigi. The youngest bed, therefore, of all that vast accumu-
lation is thus brought into contact with, and apparently dips under,
lower cretaceous rocks ; and as the beds of pebble and sandstone must
once have overlapped the cretaceous masses, nummulite rocks and
flysch out of whose materials they have been formed, the fault must
indeed be as enormous as the inversion is astounding.

This grand solution of continuity between the cretaceous rocks with
their overlying companions, the nummulites and flysch on the one
hand, and the molasse and nagelflue on the other, is the most striking
dislocation in Switzerland. The line now mentioned trends from the
flanks of Mont Pilatus and passes by the south side of the Rigi, to

* There are other minor folds, and probably dislocations, which I did not follow
out, in the masses of cretaceous and neocomian limestone between the Muotta-
thal and the Rigi. The dome-shaped arrangement of the sewer-kalk at Sewen in-
dicates that this must be the case (see p. 193).

242 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 13,

the east bank of the lake of Lowerz, where it marks the junction be-
tween the lofty cretaceous peaks of the Mythen above Schwyz, and
the supracretaceous rocks of the Hacken pass and Lowerz. But here
dislocated masses of flysch and fractured nummulite rocks are inter-
calated between the cretaceous escarpment under which they seem to
dip, and those great slopmg masses of conglomerate, which, consti-
tuting the Rossberg so celebrated for its landslip, appear im their
turn to underlie the nummulite zone. This inverted position is again
well displayed as you follow the same masses towards Einsiedeln,
where the nagelflue overlying the middle and lower molasse is m
distinct apposition to an escarpment of nummulite limestone, which
dips rapidly away under mountains of flysch that are also thrown off
to the S8.S.E., or towards the axis of the Alps (fig. 13). This phe-
nomenon is common along the northern flanks of the chain. It 1s,
in fact, that prevalent feature throughout the external zone of the
Eastern Alps on which Professor Sedgwick and myself insisted ; but
at that time we had not an adequate conception of the intensity of
these movements, by which, on lines parallel to each other, the oldest
portion of each group has often been thrown up on the external or
younger side of the Alps, with its last-formed member let down as it
were, so as to be in contact with the oldest rock in the tract, and with
all the appearance of passing under it!

The distinctions between regular succession and discordance are ad-
mirably displayed around the Griimten mountain and between it and
the higher Alps ; for after an exhibition of perfect symmetry (figs. 17
and 18), we find the flysch truncated (fig. 19) against a wall of cre-
taceous rocks. We pass through that wall by the gorge of the
Hirsch-sprung, and again we have undulations and slopes occupied
by upper members of the series which are entirely lost on the steep
side of the anticlinal. Again, at the outer or northernmost escarp-
ment of the Grinten (fig. 18), we have the same tremendous fault as
that before spoken of along the Rigi and Rossberg, showing the
nagelflue and molasse in juxtaposition with the lower neocomian.
In this last case, however, the molasse is rather thrown off to dip
away from the secondary rocks ; but along the same line of fault, and
immediately to the west of the river Iller, all the mountains of nagel-
flue again appear to plunge directly under the zone of flysch. They
there mark the grand outer line of disseverment between the molasse
and all pre-existing strata, which trending from near Immenstadt in
the Allgau, passes by Dornbirn and Haslach* south of Bregenz.
This same line of fracture is again magnificently displayed in the
canton Appenzell, along the precipitous north-western face of the
Hoher Sentis. There, the upper portions of the enormous masses
of molasse and nagelflue, dippmg away to the S.E. from the St. Gal-
len axis before-mentioned, occupy mountain pasture tracts+, whose

* At Haslach near Dornbirn, on the right bank of the Rhine, the nummulite
rock is so collocated, that any one ignorant of fossils would really believe that it
passed ms the limestones of the Stauffen, composed of lower and upper neoco-
milan rocks.

+ Handwyler Hohe, Kronberg, Petersalp, &c., these conglomerates range into
the Speer mountain, and thence to Wesen.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 243

sharp and peaked ridges have in some places the high inclination of
65° to 70°.

When viewed longitudinally in the little valley of Weissbad, nothing
can be more striking than the aspect of these bold tertiary peaks on
the one hand, and the massive cretaceous precipices on the other,
under which they seem to dip*. Examination, however, shows an
enormous void between these two classes of rocks. The upland valley
is indeed encumbered with much detritus, as is frequently the case
along such lines of fault, and for the most part fragments only of dis-
membered flysch, with a rare specimen of nummulite limestone, are to
be seen as memorials of the vast destruction of intervening rocks
which has occurred. In one spot, however, at a little cascade under the
Thurm, one of the buttresses of the Sentis, I detected a portion of the
flysch, which is fairly bent under the cretaceous masses of the moun-
tain, which I believe to represent the sewer-kalk or chalk ; for in the
heights above this cascade, Prof. Brunner and myself reached, after
some peril and labour, a zone of secondary green sandstone. M. Escher
has, indeed, shown that the chief culminating masses are sewer-kalk
or chalk based on greensand and neocomian. That author pomted out
to me, that the Sentis group is not merely a double or triple chain, but
is made up of six lines of ridges, in which the greensand“and chalk are
repeated with supracretaceous troughs. He has drawn for me the dia-
grams in the annexed plate (Pl. VII.), which are the result of his long
and patient examination of this remarkable tract. These transverse
sections, made at short intervals from each other, will explain better
than pages of description, how the apparent alternation of formations,
whose denuded edges crop out to the surface, is due to folds, the axes
of which, though occasionally vertical, are usually oblique or inverted
towards the high chai of the Alps, and thus often present their
chief escarpment to the hills of younger tertiary conglomerate. By
this arrangement, nummulitic eocene rocks (f, g) dip for the most part
under strata of anterior age; and whilst, on the S.E. face of the
mountain, they plunge towards the Alps (there regularly overlying
the chalk and greensand), on the north-western side they are trun-
cated between the molasse (m) on the one hand and the cretaceous
rocks (a, 6, c, d) on the other, but usually dipping under the latter.

Another most instructive section, and parallel to the above, is that
which proceeds from the molasse and nagelflue, the mountain called the
Speer (fig. 14, p. 200) on the N.N.W. across an inverted, inclined axis,
which clearly exposes nummulite rocks and sewer-kalk on either side
of a nucleus of neocomian limestone ; whilst by another fold the whole
series up to the flysch is displayed in a lofty basin, where the ino-
ceramus limestone rises rapidly into the lofty mountain Lyskamm,
from which, after some undulations, we see a regular descending order
through the whole cretaceous rocks and the jurassic system of this
region, as displayed in the cliffs on the north side of the lake of
Wallenstadt.

If each Alpine region be examined in detail, and its geological fea-

* See fig. 14, p. 200, and plate of M. Escher’s Sections, pl. vii. In the latter
the six ridges alluded to are numbered i. to vi. I have pointed ont the transition
bed (e) and have distinguished the eocene from the cretaceous.—R. I. M.

244 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. {Dec. 13,

tures laid down on maps in the manner in which L. von Buch,
Prof. Studer and M. Escher de Linth are working them out, it will
be seen, that although their major axes have a strike from E.N.E.
to W.S.W., there are numberless local deviations, and sometimes to
a very considerable extent. In fact, it is in the very nature of the
formations which clasp round such ellipsoids as those before spoken
of, that they should present local aberrations from any one chief line.
Such divarications occur in the masses which surround the great
ellipsoid of the Grisons and the canton Glarus ; for although the major
axis of that tract proceeds from E.N.E. to W.S.W., the strata where
they conform in outline to the ends of the ellipse, depart considerably
from the normal direction. I examined this phenomenon on the
north-eastern portion of the external zone of this great ellipsoid in
the company of M. Escher, viz. in the environs of the lake of Wal-
lenstadt ; and as a map of this tract was coloured for me on the spot
by my companion, I have exhibited it to the Geological Society, to
illustrate the pheenomenon under consideration. ‘To attempt to
describe this tract in words would be in vain, and I therefore content
myself with saying, that this map shows, that whilst the chief anti-
clinal and synclinal lines conform to the general axis of the cham, the
rock masses of various ages, from the jurassic to the nummulitic rocks
and flysch inclusive (which in the chief ridge of Sentis and along its
outer face strike E.N.E.), are bent round to the S.E. and S. at the
east end of the lake of Wallenstadt and im the valley of the Rhine
near Sargans. In this short space the rocks, therefore, become
strikingly divergent from the major axis, or in other words, they fold
round the extremity of the ellipsoid. 1 must leave others to expa-
tiate on the phenomenon, which will be the better understood when
M. Studer shall have developed all his views, and when it may be
ascertained, that the massive ellipsoids of Mont Blane, the Finsteraar-
horn, the St. Gothard, La Selvretta, &c. have been acted upon by
subterranean forces peculiar to each, and yet all partaking of one
common line of direction.

It is worthy of remark, that just as the metamorphism of the
rocks is greater as we approach the centre of the chain, so do the
sedimentary masses the more arrange themselves on the surface, as
if their external configuration were intimately connected with some
grand crystalline change. On the other hand, as we extend our
researches to the outer zones of the chain, we pass over numerous
folds and breaks, all of which are evidently referable to pure me-
chanical agency. Thus, on the N.W. face of the synclinal valley of
Wildhaus, we meet with the system of flexures in the Hoher Sentis
already alluded to (Pl. VIT.), whereby the neocomian, greensand and
chalk are repeated on lines trending due N.E. and 8.W., and forming
the ridges and troughs of that remarkable group, slightly divergent
from parallelism to the true axis. In alluding to the synclinal troughs
which run parallel to the major axes of the Alps, it is to be observed,
that in one tract the same trough will be found unbroken, which
when followed in its direction, shows different degrees of rupture.
One of the troughs before alluded to in the promontory of Burgen
(figs. 9 & 10, p. 192), on the west side of the Lake of the four cantons,

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 245

or in other words, the prolongation of the great synclinal occupied by
the Alpnach branch of the Lake of the four cantons, is seen to consti-
tute a good massive synclinal-formed hill, the promontory of Biirgen,
in which the nummulite and flysch rocks are troughed on neocomian
and cretaceous limestones ; but if followed to the opposite side of the
lake to Viznau, viz. in the same direction (in the space of two or
three miles), that which was in a synclinal form has become the scene
of that grand fault or rupture by which the upper nagelflue plunges
against and apparently under the neocomian, almost to the exclusion
of the nummulite and flysch rocks, fragments of which only appear
(fig. 12, p. 195). Following on this line to the N.E., across the lake of
Lowerz, the representatives of the nummulite rocks and flysch are in-
tercalated, though in a highly broken condition, between the molasse
and nagelflue of the Rossberg and the cretaceous rocks of the Mythen ;
whilst, still further to the N.E., these nummulitic rocks, so squeezed
up on the flanks of the Mythen, expand into the tracts south of
Eimsiedeln, where I have mentioned them as having an inverted dip,
or towards the axis of the chain (fig. 13, p. 197). Thus, that which is
an overlap in one portion of the sides of a synclinal, and whereby an
enormous transposition or slide of the masses has occurred, often occa-
sioning the absolute destruction of copious formations along the line
of fracture, on another part of the same line is, as far as external
appearances go, a complete overthrow, in which the older rocks are
superposed to the younger.

As the same physical relations of the rocks, whether in anticlinal
or synclinal forms, are seldom persistent for more than a few leagues,
and rarely in absolutely right lines, so but few of the longitudinal
faults are continued for great distances without interruption or
change in their conditions; and although some of them pass across
transverse valleys without much deviation from their strike, it is not
unfrequent to see a considerable lateral displacement, or as it were
a movement “en échellon,”’ in masses occupying the opposite sides
of any broad transverse valley. In crossing the valley of the Rhine,
for example, near its ‘‘ débouché”’ into the lake of Constance at Bre-
genz, in the direction or continuation of the synclinal flysch valley of
Wildhaus, we find a large outlier of cretaceous rock at Eschen on
the right bank, which is in fact an anticlinal of neocomian, flanked
by sewer-kalk or chalk, and trending N.E., whilst the chief trough
or synclinal of flysch setting on to the south of Feldkirch, trends de-
cidedly E.N.E. across the Ill*.

The great cretaceous masses of the Hoher Sentis are repeated or
continued, it is true, in a general way in the mountains of the Hohe
Kugel and the Stauffen (the insulated hill of Kamor in the valley of
the Rhine serving as a link between the opposite promontories) ; but
there the nummulite limestone, instead of bemg thrown off the cre-
taceous rocks, as in the Fahnern mountain on the left bank, as before
explained (fig. 15), is abruptly collocated with an inverted dip (fig. 16)
against a grand neocomian escarpment ; whilst between that junction

* See Wiirl’s Map of Switzerland, which is recommended strongly to all geo-
graphers and geologists.

246 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 13,

and the molasse, the beds of flysch are exposed vertically in the syn-
clinal of the valley of Oberdorf. This Dornbirn zone of nummulite
and flysch rocks is therefore the third parallel trough on the right
bank of the Rhine, reckoning from the higher and central Alps,
just as the zone of the same rocks in the Fahnern, which is almost
lost in the fault of the Weissbad valley, is the third repetition of such
formations on the left bank of that river, reckoning from the copious
mass of it in the high mountains of Glarus, which extends from the
heights of Harstock across the valley of the Sernft by Elm and Engi
to the baths of Pfeffers and the environs of Sargans on the N.E. In
one portion of the outermost of these folds, or that of the “ Fahnern
mountain,” we have seen how symmetrically the nummulite rock and
flysch overlie the cretaceous rocks; whilst on the same line on the
north, a flank of the Hoher Sentis, a few miles distant only, the whole
formation is obliterated by the great fault. In the second or in-
tervening zone of Wildhaus, between the Sentis and the Kurfursten
mountains, the nummulite rocks and flysch are regularly troughed
upon cretaceous rocks. In the inner parallel, however, or that nearest
the axis of the chain, the phenomena of inversion ‘en masse”’ so
exceed in grandeur anything of which I could have formed an idea,
that I must direct attention to it, particularly as I had the advantage
of travelling over a lofty portion of the inverted tract in company
with M. Escher, who has the exclusive merit of having worked out
the data.

Grand inversion of masses in the Canton Glarus.—Ascending the
valley of the Sernft by Engi to Elm, M. Escher and myself thence
traversed the Martin’s-loch pass, about 8000 feet above the sea;
and in this ridge, which separates the canton Glarus from the
Grisons, I saw the rocks which I now describe (fig. 28). The lowest

Fig. 28.

Martin’s-loch.

N.N.W. S.S.E.
Valleyiaf the - EONS SS Flimser stein.
Sernft. “cw v > Y\ ee
SY SI \\ \\ xX se wie
\ E \\ Was

oO
g. wie y. Crystalline schist.
{ f. Nummulite rocks and Glarus slates. o. Jura limestone.
a2. Apocryphal limestone.
visible strata are schists and Glarus slates, the continuation of those
containing fishes, and with them sandy calcareous grits and limestones
with green earth and nummulites (f). These bands plunge directly
into and under the mountain, or to the 8.S.E., and are overlaid by
a very quartzose variety of the flysch (y) which seemed to me to be
a partially altered rock. On the sloping surface of these grits we
detected a few loose fragments of limestone with Inoceramus and
Belemnites which seemed to have fallen from some adjacent summit.
The flysch, however, continues to be the chief rock of the mountain

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 247

until you reach the depression in the high ridge where the track
passes into the Grisons, and the crest is there so narrow and ele-
vated, that we positively sat upon the peaks of flysch with one leg
im the Grisons and the other in Glarus. Widening to about 100
feet or more to the south-west of the mountain-path, this flysch is
then directly surmounted by a mass of hard grey subcrystalline lime-
stone (x) (about 150 feet thick), which is perforated by a natural
tunnel or hole*, and hence the name of Martin’s-loch. This lime-
stone is, as far as my eye could discern (and it commanded several
miles both to the east and west), continuously superposed to the
flysch in varying and irregular thicknesses, and more or less in a
tabular position, over a great area, including the peaks of Hanstock,
Linterberg, and Karpfstock. M. Escher had, indeed, sedulously fol-
lowed the range, and had found in it jurassic ammonites near the
Karpfstock. Now, this limestone is in its turn distinctly overlaid by
a zone of tale and mica schist (y), in parts having quite the aspect of
a primary rock. This uppermost rock, according to M. Escher, is
an integral part or continuation of the Sernft conglomerates and
schists which are seen in the adjacent vale of Wallenstadt to lie be-
neath the whole secondary series. Before I made this section, I
had supposed that the younger and nummulitic deposits might be
simply plastered up on the sides of the older rocks, and not really
pass under them. But the examination of the lofty and narrow
ledge I had traversed checked such hypotheses, for on both sides
of it I witnessed the same relations. Again, I tried to imagine, that
without any inversion of the strata, metamorphism had here seized
upon all the upper strata to the exclusion of the lower; but this
speculation was equally fruitless; for, independently of the proof
obtained by M. Escher, that the overlying limestone contained ammo-
nites, that rock is quite unconformable to the flysch on the edges of
which it reposes irregularly. I was also well assured from pretty
extensive observation, that no such rock existed in any part of the
supracretaceous series. In descending from the summit-ridge into
the valley of the Vorder Rhein in the Grisons, I had, indeed, another
and an independent proof, that the rocks underlying the solid lime-
stone, with its cover of tale schist, were really of supracretaceous
age, for we found in them both nummulites and the same teeth of
fishes which characterize the flysch in many other tracts. At this
point the fossiliferous “flysch”? beneath seemed to be quite uncon-

* M. Escher informs me that the superposition of the jurassic rocks to the
nummulitic extends to the Rosenlair mountain, in the canton of Bern, and to the
Grisons. In the canton Glarus he has found the same relations to range from
Martin’s-loch to the Panix pass, where crystalline schists, equally resting on the
limestone in question and on nummulite rocks, are further surmounted by a
limestone with Pentacrinites, and resembling the modified inferior oolite and lias
of these regions. If ever, therefore, it should be attempted to explain away the
anomaly of Martin’s-loch (as M. Escher well observes in a letter to me), by sup-
posing that its enigmatical limestone and overlying chlorite schists are mere modi-
fications of true overlying “flysch” on Jura limestone, still the superposition of
the pentacrinite limestone to the whole of the series is inexplicable except on the
supposition of a complete overthrow “ en masse.”

248 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [ Dec. 13,

formable to the overlying limestones and tale schists. In proceeding,
however, to the opening from the glacier of Segnes, where the waters
issuing from a small lake or tarn, rush through crevices in the
secondary (Oxfordian) limestone, the very same masses of flysch
seem to dip under that limestone, which in its extension occupies the
striking ridges called the Flimser Stein, on the left bank of the Vorder
Rhein. Yet, these very same masses of jurassic limestone, so in-
verted in the tract described, when followed to the heights south of
Pfeffers Baden, are found to plunge under the whole of the massive
limestones of neocomian and cretaceous age, and finally to be sur-
mounted by nummulite rocks and those grand masses of flysch from
which the mineral waters issue ; and thus, in proceeding towards the
lake of Wallenstadt, or towards the flank of the chain, all is symme-
trical and each rock resumes its normal position. Whether therefore
I examined the pass of Martin’s-loch and its respective sides, and
looked at its absolute sections, or cast my eye to a distance over
the terraces of limestone surmounting flysch and nummulite rocks
as seen from its lofty summit, I was convinced that M. Escher was
correct in his delineation and mapping of the ground, although he
ingenuously urged me to try in every way to detect some error in his
views, so fully was he aware of the monstrosity of the apparent
inversion*.

I dare not pretend to offer an explanation of the “‘ modus operandi’”’
by which such a marvellous mutation of order has been produced
over so vast an area. I had indeed previously witnessed every pos-
sible contortion on a minor scale, and I might think it only necessary
to amplify the measure of such movements. But it became neces-
sary to admit, that the strata had been inverted, not by frequent
folds, as on the sides of the lake of Altorf or in the Hoher Sentis,
but in one enormous overthrow; so that over the wide horizontal
area above-mentioned, the uppermost strata which might have been
lymg in troughs or depressions due to some grand early plication,
were covered by the lateral extrusion over them of older and more
crystalline masses; the latter having been forced from their central
position by a movement operating from centre to flanks, or in other
words, from the axial line of disturbance towards the sides of the
chain. One inference, indeed, seemed certain, that if the masses have
been thus inverted, there must have since occurred enormous denuda-
tions to leave the older limestone and tale schist merely as the narrow
cappings which they form on the summits of the ridges in the manner
represented in fig. 28. The grandeur of this phenomenon may to
some extent be imagined by consulting that section; but a true con-
ception of it can be alone formed by climbing over the ridges in which
the facts are laid bare, in one of the most pictorial regions of the Alps.
Not the least extraordinary feature of the phenomenon is its appa-
rent uniformity, simplicity and grandeur, and the absence throughout
the tract of those mechanical plications, which, as we remove our ob-

* The map and sections in which this startling phenomenon is recorded, are
published in the work on the statistics of the Canton Glarus, by Professor Heer,
previously referred to.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 249

servations from the supposed centre of disturbance, become so mani-
fest in the outer group of the Hoher Sentis in the same longitude.
I am aware that there is a great difficulty in accounting for the lateral
folds and plications of the Alpine strata, from the supposed absence
of adequate central masses of erupted matter to dislodge, roll over or
compress into smaller horizontal areas, strata which must once have
been regularly extended in sheets. But might not the formation of
great central crystalline ellipsoids, whether eruptive or metamorphic,
serve in some measure to account for this? May not these ellipsoids,
in being transformed and amplified, have operated as great centres
of mechanical force? And with our knowledge of the position here
and there of very considerable masses of true granite, may not much
of that rock have acted without being visible, and may not large
masses of it be hidden under unfathomable glaciers ?

But leaving this enigma, let us return to the consideration of the
lateral folds to which the strata of these mountains have been me-
chanically subjected. In them we learn not to be sceptical concern-
ing the truth of many sections in the Alps, such in particular as those
of M. Hugi, which represent rapid repetitions of lias and different
jurassic formations in parallel sheets; for we need only suppose the
superficial portion of narrow undulations removed by a powerful
denudation, and many of the phenomena he represents would be
at once realized. |

I am happy to bring forward these few data at the present mo-
ment, when Professor H. Rogers, one of the authors of the undula-
tory or earthquake theory as applied to mountains, is im England,
and when he has taken the trouble to point out to me how some of
my facts may, as he thinks, be explained on his principles of illus-
tration. Putting aside his theory, we have only, indeed, to look at
the elaborate map of the Appalachian chain, by his brother and
hinself, and witness the numerous ellipses into which the paleeozoic
masses have there been turned, and scan the sections of these authors,
based on positive data and outcrops of mineral masses worked for
use, in order to comprehend how the enormous faults and slides have
there occurred just where the strata have been most bent and in-
verted in reference to the centre of disturbance. Thus, the compa-
ratively low chain of North America may throw light on some of the
most complicated problems of our science, which could scarcely ever
have been satisfactorily worked out amid the confusion of the Central
Alps, such large portions of them being inaccessible to man and
covered with eternal snow.

The inversion or the dipping of the strata towards the centre of a
chain, so as to place the older over the younger deposits, has becn a
subject of wonder, and has hitherto been considered scarcely expli-
cable upon any satisfactory hypothesis. In viewing the Ural moun-
tains, where the same phzenomenon is copiously displayed, I was dis-
posed to account for such apparent inversion, by supposing that the
broken ends of the strata had fallen into abysses or cavities produced
by the extravasation of the enormous masses of igneously formed
rock, which are there seen at hand as if ready to explain the facts.

250 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [| Dec. 13,

But this explanation is totally inapplicable to the Appalachians. It
is almost impossible also to apply this reasoning to the Alps, from the
absence of masses of erupted matter adequate to account for the phee-
nomenon by displacement. But, however we may theorize, it must
be admitted, that in nearly all the alpine folds to which my attention
was directed, the longer leg of each anticlinal slopes towards the centre
of the chain, whilst the steeper talus or shorter leg of the flexure is
away from it (see figs..12 & 14, and Plate VII.). Besides the occur-
rence of this pheenomenon, which is the basis of the theory of Professor
Rogers, the Alps seem further to exhibit, as far as I know them,
the same longitudinal faults as the Appalachians, whereby fractures
having occurred either on the most bent portion, or the steep side of
the anticlinal or synclinal folds, the result has been (explain it how
we may) the lateral overlapping of the older rocks upon the younger.

In saying that I am not prepared to subscribe to the earthquake
theory, I have to thank Professor H. Rogers for having drawn dia-

grams to explain two of the most frequent cases of such overlap and
inversion, as they occur indeed in my own sections, showing how the
axes of each trough or ridge were first forced into oblique positions,
followed by the fractures in question, and then by the transgressive
sliding of older over newer deposits by lateral pressure. The fol-
lowing is his explanation.

“I have endeavoured (says Professor Rogers) in the annexed
diagrams to illustrate two very common kinds of faults or dislocations
occurring in regions of closely-compressed or inverted flexures. In
one case (fig. 29. Nos. 1, 2 & 3) the fracture coincides, or very
nearly so, with the anticlinal axis plane and the plane which cuts the
two branches of the anticlinal flexure at the same angle; the other
instance (fig, 30. Nos. 1, 2, 3) is where the dislocation is in the syn-
clinal axis plane. The displacements here shown are both of them
upcasts along the inclined plane of the fault. In all oblique com-
pressed flexures, this plane of the fault dips of necessity towards a
more disturbed side of the district. 'The effect of both of these
classes of fracture is to bring an older set of strata superimposed in
approximate parallelism of dip upon a newer series, but with oppo-
site conditions, the anticlinal fracture inverting the beds on the side
below or beyond the fault, while the synclinal fracture inverts those
on the upper or nearer side: I think it will be found that the first
phasis is by far the most common in the Alps. The greater part of
the dislocations of the Appalachian chain are certainly of this cha-
racter, the fracture being either in the anticlinal plane or a little be-
yond the axis, in the short inverted leg of the flexure. Most of the
cases of inversion in the Alps which your interesting sections display,
and to which you have kindly drawn my attention, are, I think,
simply instances of dislocation along the anticlinal planes of inverted
or closely-compressed oblique flexures. A few, however, appear to
have resulted from faults along the synclinal planes. I have not
here exhibited the other less usual forms of dislocation, or treated of
the cases where the displacements are downthrows and not upthrows
along the inclined plane of the fault.”

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 251

This ingenious explanation of Professor H. Rogers may, it appears
to me, be very well applied to those examples in the Alps where, as
assumed by him in his diagrams, the strata of different ages have
originally been continuously and conformably superposed. Such,

Fig. 29.

Fracture through the anticlinal axis-plane of an inverted flexure (the elevated
mountains are to the right hand).

No. 2. After fracture and
displacement.
No. 1. Commencement of
fracture after flexure. eels No. 3. After denudation.

Fig. 30.

Fracture through the synclinal axis-plane of an inverted flexure.

No. 1. Fracture before
displacement. No. 2. After displacement.

No. 3. After denudation.

-3 eee

——

!
y
\
i
i
‘
i

for example, may have been the case in all those tracts where the
cretaceous rocks were formerly surmounted by nummulite limestone
and flysch, and where, after having been thrown into inverted anti-
clinals and synclinals, they were afterwards fractured and denuded in
the manner described. Of this class of faults the figures 16 and 19
may be cited as very probably answering to the law of displacement
observed in the United States*. In the first of these, near Dérnbirn,

* I say probably, because in the Alps the subterranean course of faults has not

been ascertained by mining operations as in the United States, and examination is
usually much impeded by vast quantities of detritus.

252 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 13,

the nummulitic strata (/) which are inclined at an angle of about 45°,
may really pass under the truncated edges of the lower neocomian
limestone (a) in the manner represented. In fig. 19 the beds of flysch
of the Bolghen may be similarly overlapped by the neocomian lime-
stones of the Schwartzenberg in a similar manner, though probably the
angle of the line of fault is different from that at’ Dornbirn. In both
these cases, as in many others throughout the Alps, where the press-
ure has been so exerted from the centre towards the flanks of the
chain as to invert the axes of a series of formations originally con-
formable, the law or rule of Professor Rogers may be found to apply.
On the other hand, a different method of reasoning may be neces-
sary, in reference to the great Swiss fault between the molasse and
all pre-existing rocks (see figs. 12, 13, 14, 17, &c.) ; for in no case
was the molasse and nagelflue origially superposed conformably on
the pre-existing strata out of which it has been formed. These older
strata must, in fact, have undergone many of their contortions before
the molasse was accumulated on their flanks, and in no instance can
the latter be observed in conformable undulation with the former.
In no case (as far as I know) do the molasse and nagelflue partake
of any fold which has affected the older rocks. On the contrary, they
are always abruptly truncated against such older strata, and more fre-
quently with an inverted dip than otherwise. It is indeed manifest
from the composition of the nagelflue, that when it was formed, the
secondary rocks of the Alps, and even the nummulite rock and flysch,
were hard solid masses ; in fact, just in the lithological state we now
find them. Again, we cannot look at the sections on the flanks of
the Rigi, Hoher Sentis, &c. (figs. 12, 13, 14, pp. 195, 197, 200, &c.),
where the upper conglomerate of the molasse is forced into inverted
and unconformable contact with the older rocks, without perceiving
that the great anticlinal of the regenerated and younger strata (m) is
vertical, and not inverted as in the older and folded rocks. And this
fact teaches us, that the forces which upheaved the molasse and
nagelflue were independent of those which contorted and produced
the earlier fractures in the chain. |

But whatever view we may take, the phenomena of the group of the
Hoher Sentis present us with very remarkable problems not easily re-
concilable (see PI. VIT. p. 243). Whetherviewed from the plains around
the lake of Constance, or examined in its precipitous and rugged sides,
few geologists would doubt that this cluster of mountains had taken
up its position relative to the lower country by a great upcast*. Yet
nowhere within it has M. Escher been able to detect anything like
a centre of upheaval, still less any motive cause of elevation ; for
the highest summit is not composed of the oldest rock of the chain,
viz. the lower neocomian (a), but, on the contrary, of the equivalent
of the chalk (7). Its remarkable features are rapid folds (doubtless
accompanied by some considerable faults), by which, in fact, the

* In my section I have hypothetically drawn the line of the great fault between
the molasse and the older rocks nearly vertical, but whether it inclines away from
the chain, according to the usual form of upcasts, or continues to pass under the
older rocks, is not known.

1848.| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 253

group where most extended is divided, as before said, into no less
than six or seven parallel ridges, with intervening troughs; and all
this in a very short horizontal distance, wherein nearly all the strata
from the lowest neocomian to the flysch above the nummulites are
repeated over and over. Now, if these plications with vertical and
iclined axes be due to any force which has proceeded from the
centre of the Alps, is it not extraordinary that this group of the
Hoher Sentis, so far from that centre, should exhibit this extraor-
dinary amount of contortion, and should also in this respect differ so
essentially from other parts of the zone of which it is a prolongation ?
for in following the same band of the calcareous mountains to the
south-west, through Switzerland, it is found to be of much simpler
contour ; presenting seldom, if ever, more than one or two folds and
a fault *.

General View of Changes in the Alps.

Whilst the inaccessible forms of large portions of the Alps, their
fractures and curvatures, and the enormous piles of rubbish on their
slopes, render it difficult to trace accurate sections of them, the general
survey of this chain warns us not to infer the independence of for-
mations from the unconformable or broken relations of any one tract.
Having full confidence im the accuracy of the observations of M.
Favre im the region so much examined by De Saussure,—observa-
tions the more to be admired as they have been carried out in
the very spirit of his illustrious precursor,—let us admit with him
that the terrain a nummulite near Geneva} and in parts of Savoy
reposes on jurassic rocks, or neocomian limestone or greensand, just
as it has been observed in the Maritime Alps by Sismonda, and near
Chambery by Chamousset. Still, this is only a proof, that in such
localities the intermediate cretaceous beds have either not been ela-
borated, or have been denuded by local causes before the deposition
of the nummulite rocks commenced. Such examples of a want of
regular sequence cannot be maintained, as M. Favre contends, to be
proofs of independence, when set against the examples of superposi-
tion and passage into the chalk at Thones in Savoy, in the Appenzell
_ Alps, and in the various parts of Switzerland and Bavaria above cited.
The latter must be viewed as the rules of order and succession.
Again, judging from the local sections near Samoens and Taninge in

* Professors Studer and Brunner have written to me on the application of the
theory of Professor Rogers to the Alps. Though both of them seem to have had
in a certain sense a perception of his views, still his explanations of faults appear
to me to be distinct from those of any of his precursors or contemporaries. The
sections of M. Dumont of the palzeozoic strata of the Ardennes and the palezozoic
strata around Liege make perhaps the nearest approach to them. Professor Studer
had shown, that the undulations of the Jura, as described by Thurman, resulted from
the elevation of the Alps (Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. vol. ix. and Géographie Physique,
t. xi. p. 235). But Professor H. Rogers is quite of a different opinion respecting
the undulations of the Jura. Judging from their form, i.e. with the long slopes
towards the French side, and their steep slopes towards ‘the Alps, he infers, on the
contrary, that the propelling force came from the Black Forest.

+ Bulletin de la Soc. Géol. Fr. 2nd ser. vol. iv. pp. 999-1001.

VOL. V.— PART I. 1.

204 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 13,

Savoy, M. Favre believes that the flysch is as independent of the
nummulite rock as the latter is of the pre-existing limestone ; whilst,
if the above-mentioned instance at Thones in the same region was
not sufficient to prove the contrary, I have shown by many other
examples, that nummulite rocks and flysch constitute one and the
same natural group in which no general severance has taken place. I
recur to this point, because several continental geologists have insisted
on the establishment of the “independence” of formations by an
amount of unconformity which in my opinion is simply due to partial
dislocations and overlappings of the strata. Now, it is quite mani-
fest from the examination of any large region, that movements of the
subsoil have occurred in one tract both during and after the accu-
mulation of a deposit, which extending their influence to a certain
distance only, have not interfered with the continuous succession of
the same deposits in a neighbouring country. Changes of level at
various periods, accompanied by contortions and breaks, have often
produced those transgressions from which ‘ independence”’ is as-
sumed ; whilst in following out these very masses into other tracts
a clear and conformable succession is developed. English geologists
need, in truth, no caution on this head, for the pheenomenon is well
known to them, and it has been recognised on the grandest scale
in North America, through the labours of our associates of that con-
tinent.

Is there then no formation in the Alps so completely and univer-
sally broken off from all other deposits that it is really independent
of them all? As to the oldest sedimentary rocks of the chain, it is
unquestionably true that some of them (all those at least which are
affected by a rude slaty cleavage) are so essentially distinct from the
deposits which followed, that we may fairly suppose that they ac-
quired their mutations im an earlier epoch. ‘The most distinct,
however, as well as the grandest of the examples of true indepen-
dence, is that of the molasse and nagelflue of Switzerland, to whose
position so many references have been made. As relates to Switz-
erland and all the northern face of the Alps, these deposits appear
to have been so completely dissevered from all pre-existing strata, as
to leave a considerable geological vacuum between them and the eocene
group. It has accordingly been seen, that there is a vast difference in
the fossils of the nummulitic group of that chain and those of the suc-
ceeding molasse, a difference which induces me to class the latter
rather with the older pliocene than with the miocene. But when
we turn to the southern flank of the chain, we there find, as I have
shown, an apparent conformity from the cretaceous rocks through
both eocene and miocene into the pliocene, although the axial line,
it is to be recollected, is perfectly parallel to that of Switzerland
and Bavaria, where the great hiatus exists. In the Italian case, I be-
lieve that another parallel elevation, posterior to the great upheaval
of the eocene, raised the external fringe of younger tertiary rocks
into the hills of Bassano and Asolo. In treating of Italy and the
Apennines, I shall, indeed, endeavour to show that those portions of
the sections of the tertiary series which are either denuded or imper-

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS, 253

fectly seen in the tract between the Brenta and the Piave, are taken
up and clearly displayed in the Monferrato ridge, and that the Su-
perga exhibits, on the one hand, a downward transition from what has
been considered true and pure miocene into nummulitic strata, and
upwards, on the other, into the richest subapennine or pliocene
marls andsands. The great hiatus on the northern flank of the Alps
may represent, perhaps, the upper portion of eocene, and the lower
part of what has been termed the miocene age, whilst on the south, evi-
dences have been left, of apparent transitions from one to the other.

The conclusion therefore is, that without quitting the Alps and
their immediate flanks, we may argue for or against the dependence
of several formations, according to the tract we survey. In England
the coal is generally conformable to the mountain or carboniferous
limestone. But now we know, that what is true in England and the
west of Europe, is not so in certain parts of Bohemia and Poland.
In these two countries a great dislocation has taken place after the
deposition of the mountain or carboniferous limestone with its large
Producti, and before the accumulation of the overlying coal-fields ;
the former being highly inclined together with Devonian and other
palzeozoic rocks, whilst the latter are horizontal.

Nothing, however, that I have stated must be taken as militating
against the indisputable phenomena of dislocations having occurred in
one region whilst adjacent countries remained quiescent,—pheenomena
which often enable us to mark the ceras of such disturbances. It is
not against such general views of M. E. de Beaumont that I contend,
but simply against the abuse of them, in the hands of those who would
magnify into too great importance local and partial lines of rupture.
At the same time, I cannot doubt that great mutations of outline have
taken place at different periods, not only in and along the same chain
of mountains on lines parallel to each other, but even at different
periods upon the very same line. Judging from the analogies in
existing nature, such events might well indeed be supposed to happen
upon any one line of fissure, where the earth’s crust had been once
much weakened by rupture. On this point I may revert to proofs, cited
by myself in the north-eastern portion of the Silurian region of the
British Isles, to show that similarly constituted igneous matter had
been successively extruded along the same line of fissure or vent of
habitual eruption, at one period mingling and alternating with the
Silurian sediments, afterwards throwing them on edge, next affecting
carboniferous strata which had been deposited on the edges of the
Silurian rocks, and at a subsequent epoch cutting in dykes through
the horizontal new red sandstone, thereby isolating a basin of lias*.
Now, all this occurred upon one and the same line at those successive
epochs.

In concluding this portion of the memoir, I must further be excused
when I refer to another chapter of the ‘ Silurian System+’ for what
I consider to be a true delineation of Alpine pheenomena, although on
a smaller scale. In the Alps, as in Siluria, we see local divergent
strikes, sometimes of considerable extent, amidst rocks of the same

* Silurian System, pp. 294 ef seq. + See Chapter XLII. p. 572.
T 2

256 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [ Dec. 13,

age, and parallelism of masses which were formed at different epochs,
and in both regions we trace the disturbance and transgression of
certain strata in one tract, and their inosculation and quiet transition
m another.

In the preceding pages I have endeavoured to present one general
view of the successive formations of the Alps, from the earliest periods
in which there are traces of life, until that grand rupture occurred, by
which the youngest tertiary deposits of the north flank of the chain un-
derwent those tremendous movements, which left them in their highly-
inclined and apparently inverted positions. With the exception of the
evidences of a very limited terrestrial vegetation afforded by some of
the older strata, and again by the lower portion of the eocene or num-
mulitic group (which can be accounted for by vegetable matter having
been drifted into bays or estuaries), nearly all the sedimen tary rocks be-
speak, through their imbedded organic remains, a continuous accumu-
lation under the sea. Passing by for the present the paleeozoic rocks
and the trias, as yet only known in the Eastern Alps, and limiting our
attention to the Western Alps, we cannot view the grand succession
of jurassic, cretaceous and nummulitic formations without perceiving,
that although some of them were unquestionably formed in shallow
water, even these must have been depressed to very great depths in
order to account for the copious and continuous superposition of
other and younger marine deposits of vast thickness. In appealing
to the series of natural-history records as written on the walls of the
Alps, we find that extensive and sometimes entire changes in the
animals of these seas took place, even when the beds in which their
relics are now entombed appear to have succeeded each other without
any general physical fractures or derangements of the then existing
surface. In no case is this so remarkable, however, as when the
nummulitic or eocene group surmounts by conformable transition
the uppermost member of the cretaceous system.

At length, however, a period arrived, when all these great masses,
which for the most part had hitherto been in a submarine condition,
were elevated and desiccated, so as to constitute terra firma, probably
in the form of a rocky and abrupt island. It was this land, of whose
altitude we can now form no accurate idea, which furnished the
pebbles, sand, marl and other materials which compose the molasse
and nagelflue. The absence of all links to connect this molasse of the
Northern Alps with the pre-existing eocene strata coimeides, therefore,
with the facts, that, owing to disturbance and elevation, the older ter-
tiary strata constituted terrestrial masses, before the earliest-formed
pebbles or sand of the nagelflue were deposited. In this way the
vast hiatus between the one set of rocks and the other is well ex-
plaimed. In examining the molasse, we are assured byits fossil remains,
whether animal or vegetable, that during the very long period which
must have elapsed during its mcrement, the climate must have been
much warmer than that of the same region in the present day. The
arborescent palms and intertropical plants which then grew upon the
adjacent lands of the Alps and the Jura, the rhinoceros and other
large herbivorous quadrupeds which browsed upon them, the large

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 257

tortoises and the great aquatic salamanders of the lakes, as well as
the marine shells of the then bays of the sea, are all unanswerable
evidences of a very different climate from that which now prevails. So
far we can without difficulty picture to ourselves the former state of
things during the accumulation of the molasse. But when we attempt
satisfactorily to analyse the physical changes even of this eva, we
encounter considerable difficulties. The boldest specuiator may be
well startled when he is called upon to explain the modus operandi
by which regularly stratified masses, thousands of feet thick and for
the most part formed under fresh water, have been piled up one on
the other. He may at first suppose that the well-rounded Alpine
pebbles in these strata resulted from the action of various rivers ;
but a survey of the region soon convinces him that such local causes
would be wholly inadequate to explain such a general phenomenon.
The grandeur, width, depth, and, above all, the longitudinal persist-
ence of this enormous mound of detrital, yet finely laminated mate-
rials, ranging as it does along the whole external northern face of the
chain, can never be explained by the action of separate rivers which
issued from openings into insular lands, unquestionably of much less
height than the present Alps. Such lands could only give rise to small
partial deltas, each streaming out from the centre of their origin like
spokes in a wheel, and could never have produced the one gigantic ac-
cumulation of the molasse and nagelflue, which does not run far up
into the recesses of the Alps, but constitutes, on the contrary, their
broad, external barrier. It may, deed, be suggested that the detritus
resulting from innumerable small torrents descending from a precipi-
tous rocky isle, were accumulated on a steep shelving shore, like that
of the present Maritime Alps; but however this may have been, it is
manifest that the bottom of the waters which bathed that shore,
whether freshwater, brackish or marine, must have been successively
depressed to enormous depths. This long-continued depression can
indeed alone enable us to account for the heaping-up of these sub-
aqueous materials throughout such a thickness, and consequently
during so longa period. It is also self-evident, that whilst they were
depositing, the materials of the molasse must have been arranged in
strata which sloped away from their parent rocks of the Alps.

At this point, then, im the history of these mountains, we can arrive
by an interpretation of the materials in our hands. But with the
close of the molasse period, a change came over the surface, compared
with which all antecedent phenomena fade away in importance.
The very deposits of molasse and pebbles, which till then formed
sloping deposits on the shore, or more or less grand horizontal
masses at certain distances from it, suddenly underwent those
powerful upheavals parallel to the lines of dislocation of the adjacent
chain ;—movements which not only threw up horizontal strata into
vertical axes, but cast down the youngest accumulations of that long
period into positions which make them appear to pass under the very
rocks out of which they had been formed. Although in estimating
such gigantic movements the powers of imagination are at fault,
surely it is not unphilosophical, with such unanswerable data before

258 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socirvy. [Dec. 13,

us, to believe that in those days the crust of the earth was affected
by forces of infinitely greater intensity than those which now pre-
vail. ‘That the elevation, dislocation and apparent inversion of the
molasse was a sudden operation or catastrophe, is clearly demon-
strated, both by the physical relations of the strata of that age to
those which succeeded them, and by proofs of an immediate change
of climate, probably due to a great rise of new lands, and the
elevation to much higher altitudes of all the country which pre-
existed. In attestation of both these inferences, we see the ends
of the inclined, and often vertical beds of molasse, whose contents
bespeak a warm or Mediterranean climate, covered abruptly by hori-
zontal accumulations of ancient alluvia, the animals and vegetables
in which announce a climate little, if at all, different from that
of the present day. The extent to which these old water-worn
alluvia once filled up the valleys of the Alps, thereby indicating that
the chain was then of less altitude than at present—the formation
of ancient glaciers—the transport of huge erratic blocks to vast
distances, and the great and irregular elevations and deep denudations
which the whole area has undergone, are all phenomena pertaining
to this most interesting chain, on which, though much has already
been said, I hope at a future day to express my opinions.

Part II.

On THE CRETACEOUS AND NumMu.LITIC Rocks oF THE CARPA-
THIAN MounNrTAINS.

In 1843 I examined the northern flank of the Tatra group of the
Carpathian mountains with Professor Zeuschner, and although I
never published a detailed account of that survey, I gave the general
results of it in the work upon Russia and the Ural Mountains. [|
then believed that all the Carpathian sandstones, as well as the flysch
of the Alps, were of cretaceous age; but I now present a section
(fig. 31) accompanied by explanations, to show, that whilst many of
these sandstones are of secondary age, there are others which, sur-
mounting true nummulitic eocene deposits, are clearly tertiary. This
section is therefore now brought forward, both to confirm what has
been stated in the preceding pages, and to extend and modify the
view which I previously entertained concerning the classification of
the formations on the flanks of the Carpathian mountainst.

The lofty axis of the Tatra is occupied by granitic rocks, which on
their northern side are flanked, first by tale schists, and next by
hard quartzose and altered sandstones, concerning whose age I will
not speculate (see 1 & 2 of fig. 31). These rocks are surmounted
by great masses of hard subcrystalline limestone (3), often in a state
of marble, and with few traces of regular bedding. Near the iron
forges of Zagopane, these limestones are visibly stratified, plunging
to the north, and they there alternate with a schistose shale (3*) in
which the Terebratula biplicata occurs in abundance. Again, in the
turreted ridges called Muran (or the Wall) the limestones also dip to

+ See Russia and the Ural Mountains, yol.i. p. 264.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 259

Fig. 31.

re the north, but with many undulations and

= 8 fractures, and in them the following fossils
a a | are found, as identified by M. Zeuschner :—

2. 3 AmmonitesWaleotti, A. Bucklandi, A. an-

~E* nularis, Nautilus acutus (V. Buch), Be-

Ee lemnites digitalis, Terebratula biplicata,

Spirifer Walcotti, S. rostratus, with Ap-
tychi, Cidarites, Pentacrinites, and some
remains of ichthyolites. This group of
fossils leaves no doubt, that the lme-
stones containing them belong to the
liasso-jurassic limestones. In the interval
between the spots where these fossils
are collected and the outer edge of the
Tatra, there are other limestones in a
more or less crystalline state, which,
compressed by high inclination into a
small horizontal distance, are difficult of
access on account of dense woods and their
rugged outline. To these I cannot pretend
to assign a precise age. On their flank,
and particularly on the left bank of the
Biala Dujanec, where that stream issues
from the gorge of Zagopane, they are un-
conformably and irregularly covered by a
band of nummulitic limestone (f), which
dips off at an angle of 35° to 40° and
passes under a portion of certain schists,
sandstones and impure limestones (9),
which occupy a portion of the hilly tract
extending northwards to the valley of Neu-
markt. This nummulite limestone is thick-
bedded, of grey colour, in part a coarse cal-
careous grit, and even a small conglomerate
made up of fragments of the underlying
limestones, and is much charged with mag-
nesia. It contains nummulites throughout
a thickness of upwards of 100 feet, but most
abundantly in the upper beds. Among
these, besides the Nummulina globulus,
Leym.?, there is the large species WN.
planospira’?, so common in the Alps and
elsewhere ; and these typical fossils are
also, as in many other regions cited, asso-

(7) lated with certain pectens, ostrez, &c.,
‘suossommy and large echinoderms, &c. In short, the
powil¥ fossil assemblage of genera and forms is
‘gyreuman jo AaqTea 5 so precisely the same as that seen in the
supracretaceous nummulitic rocks of the
Alps, that no doubt can exist as to the age

Zagopane,
4, Oxfordian Jura. 2.
3. Liasso-jurassic

Jurassic. { :

g. Flysch or Tertiary Carpathian sandstone.

Giuba Tavka.
Eocene. { f. Nummiulite rock.

sandstone, shale, &c.

ec. Secondary Carpathian
a.b. Neocomian.

Cretaceous. {

Sandstone
and shale

260 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. {Dec. 15,

of the deposit. Though denuded at this point, the nummulitie rock
is conformably followed to the north, on the other side of a small
brook, by dark shale and grey and green sandstone (gy), which as
certainly represent a portion of the upper alpine flysch. Thus far
al] is clear. But in traversing the undulating ridges between this
spot and Wieliczka or Cracow on the north, a very complicated and
broken series of sandstones, shale and limestones is passed over, the
greater part of which have hitherto been gregariously merged under
the name of Carpathian sandstone. Now, as secondary fossils have
been found in some of them near Cracow, it becomes absolutely ne-
cessary to endeavour to explain the apparent anomaly and to separate
the above-mentioned tertiary flysch, which distinctly overlies the
nummulitic eocene, from other rocks, often closely resembling it in
mineral characters, which are as certainly of cretaceous and secon-
dary age.

Scarcely has the traveller advanced a few miles from the outer
edge of the Tatra to the north, than he meets with a low ridge of
limestone, which runs parallel to the main chain by Zafilary and Ru-
gosnik. On inspecting this limestone (0 of fig. 31) I had no doubt,
that its mural form and altered condition were due to an upcast along
a line of eruption. This supposition was, indeed, confirmed by the
existence of an outburst of porphyry a few miles to the east, pre-
cisely on the strike of the beds. From the names of the fossils first
collected by Professor Zeuschner, such as Ammonites Murchisone,
A. Conybeari, A. biplex, A. Tatricus, Terebratula dyphia, and others,
it appeared probable that this rock was simply an upcast on a small
scale of some upper portion of the great adjacent jurassic chain,
which had been upheaved through overlying schists and sandstones.
More careful examination of other fossils collected from this locality
by Zeuschner has, as Count Keyserling informs me, detected at least
eight species of the lower neocomian, viz. Ammonites Calypso, A.
Morellianus, A. diphyllus, A. picturatus, A. subfimbriatus, A. faset-
cularis, with Secaphites Ivaniu, &c. In this collocation (even if the
names in the first list be correct) there need, it appears to me, be no
contradiction ; for it is the usual case in the Alps, that strata with
Oxfordian fossils are at once overlaid by the lower neocomian lime-
stone. The physical features, indeed, favour this view ; for the mass
of the lowest limestone visible is a highly altered, veined and reddish
rock, in many parts amorphous and crystalline, with many slickenside
surfaces, and in parts a breccia, which presenting bluff escarpments to
the valley of Neumarkt, is overlaid to the south, as represented in
the diagram, by dark shale and nodules of ironstone, and then by
thinner-bedded, scaly, greyish-white limestones (a*), which may well
represent the lower neocomian, and in which I doubt not the last-
mentioned species were found. I persist, therefore, in my belief that
these limestones were really upheaved, along a fissure parallel to the
main Carpathian chaint. It is indeed manifest (see fig. 31) that the
north and south edges of this trough of sandstones are entirely dis-
similar ; for the strata constituting its north end rest upon limestones

t+ See Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains, vol.i. p. 264.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 261

containing cretaceous and jurassic fossils; whilst its southern limb
is composed of nummulitic rocks of eocene age resting on lias.

Although I had not sufficient time at my disposal to determine
the detailed relations of all the strata between the external face of
the Tatra and the valley of Neumarkt, a section with which M.
Zeuschner favoured me sufficiently explains, that the flysch (9)
which overlies the nummulites, and dips to the north, is met by a
great mass of Carpathian sandstone, &c., which occupying the Giuba
Tavka, is inclined to the south in the manner represented in fig. 31.
Subjected to other fractures, this sandstone (probably its lower mem-
ber) is found a little further northwards to overlie conformably the
calcareous ridge (0) before spoken of, in the upper part of which
neocomian or lower greensand fossils occur, and whose lower division
is characterized by Oxfordian jurassic forms. In this way I can
readily understand how the nummulitic rock (/) and its overlying
member (g) should really be eocene, whilst the great mass of Car-
pathian sandstone (c) which is separated from the former by a
fault, may, as I have always thought, represent parts of the cre-
taceous system (upper greensand, &c.?). I can also now well under-
stand how the equivalents of the lower greensand (a, 0) should have
afforded the above-mentioned characteristic fossils; the whole re-
posing on an upcast outer ridge of jurassic limestone. Having con-
vinced myself that the nummulitic rocks on the north flank of the
Tatra are eocene, I cannot doubt that the masses thereof which lie
on the south side of that chain are of similar age. Thus, the sec-
tions of M. Zeuschner would lead me to believe, that the nummulitic
rocks and overlying sandstones of the valley of Kradak, which he
considers to be jurassic, are really the true eocene, which there re-
posing on lower Jura are truncated against the granite of the higher
Tatra. Other nummulitic rocks are repeated to the south of the
lesser Tatra.

For all these reasons I feel assured, that Professor Zeuschner has
erred in placing this nummulitic limestone in the jurassic series, or at
the base of the whole external zone of the Carpathian sandstones and
limestones. For, whatever may be the age of the formation on which
this nummulitic rock reposes, its zoological characters are unmistake-
able ; whilst both on the north and south sides of the Tatra, it is
immediately covered by strata which represent the flysch.

In the Carpathians, as in the Alps and Italy, great confusion has
arisen from deciding on the age of sandstones by their mere mineral
characters ; for, although it is manifest that rocks of this aspect and
containing fucoids clearly overlie the nummulitic limestone, there are
other cases, like those of Gosau and other parts of the Eastern Alps,
where the lithological characters of the eocene greensand descend far
into the cretaceous system. The highly contorted, broken and dis-
located region between Neumarkt and Rugosnik on the south and
Cracow on the north, over which I passed, affords a good illustra-
tion of this pot, and also of the extreme difficulty, in the absence
of fossils, of being able to draw any neat line of demarcation between
some of these sandstones and schists. I have repeatedly noted, that
the presence of fucoids can never be accepted as any test of the age

262 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 13,

of rocks ; inasmuch as these fossils have a vertical range from the
secondary greensand upwards to beds thousands of feet above the
equivalent of the white chalk. In the Carpathians, the same or
nearly the same lithological character prevails from the strata repre-
senting the lower neocomian up into beds above the nummulitic
limestone; and if the normal relations of this region were not ex-
cessively distorted, we should, I have no doubt, see that the younger
secondary and older tertiary there often pass into each other, pre-
serving the same mineral types.

Thus, if the section (fig. 31) from the flanks of the Tatra be con-
tinued from the environs of Zafflary and the valley of Neumarkt to
the valley of the Vistula, we may interpret the sandstones, conglome-
rates and schists of that tract to be both of secondary and tertiary
age ; for, notwithstanding many dislocations and contortions, it ap-
peared to me, that on the whole the grey sandstones of the hills north
of the Biala Dunajec dip away from the axis of Zafflary and Rugosnik,
in which jurassic and lower neocomian fossils occur. In this way
the hills near Svienty Cruz, about 2000 feet above the sea, which
contain fragments of coaly matter and thin seams of lignite, may
possibly be paralleled with the strata, which at the outer zone of all
the series of similar aspect, extending from Liebertoft to the hills
south of Wieliczka, contain what are called upper neocomian, or
lower greensand fossils. However this may be, one of the under-
lying masses dips to the north, and the other or outer zone to the
south. The result is, that the greater portion of the intervening
strata lie in a rudely undulating and broken trough; and thus I am
disposed to think, until contradictory fossil proofs be obtained, that
a portion of the series north of Svienty Sebastian, consisting of thick-
bedded macigno sandstone of grey and grass-green colours with white
veins, (which at Struya and in the hill of Kotan near Luboin are
surmounted by dark shale and schist,) and also the strata extending
to the valley of the Rabba, may stand in the place of the supracre-
taceous macigno alpin or upper flysch of the Alps.

But wherever the white chalk or its representative and the num-
mulitic limestone are absent on the flanks of the Carpathians, and
fossils cannot be detected, the geologist must be at fault. Fortu-
nately, however, the paleeontological researches of Prof. Zeuschner
have proved, that many of these green sandstones, schists and con-
glomerates are of true cretaceous age. Thus, in the ravines near
Liebertoft, two Polish miles south of Cracow, M. Zeuschner led me
into gorges where grey, flaglike calcareous grits, occasionally passing
almost into conglomerates with black fragments (lithologically, in-
deed, undistinguishable from supracretaceous rocks), contain ammo-
nites, belemnites, and a species of Aptychus. In these strata, as
they range thence towards Wieliczka, M. Zeuschner has since detected
Belemnites bipartitus (Blainv.), B. pistilliformis (Bl.), B. dilatatus
(Bl.), which present on the whole adequate proof that these sandy
beds represent the neocomian. In short, they resemble to some ex-
tent the English type of lower greensand. In the county of Trent-
schin, between Orlova and Podkrad, the so-called Carpathian sand-
stone, on the other hand, is probably the upper greensand ; for, along

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 263

the space of half a German mile, it there contains Gryphea columba,
Cardium Hillanum, and in other places (Zips, Zglo, Wercizer) Pho-
ladomya Esmarckii ; whilst plants referred by Goppert to the upper
greensand, including Salicites crassifolius, occur at Kluknawa and
Petzoldtii.

It is thus manifest, that in the generic word Carpathian sandstone,
as in the words ‘“‘ Wiener sandstein,”’ ‘ flysch”’ and “‘ macigno,”’ de-
posits of lower greensand, upper greensand, and of supracretaceous
or eocene greensand have been confounded. ‘The value, therefore,
of the section between Zagopane and Zafflary (fig. 31) is apparent,
because the order of superposition there clearly establishes a parallel
between the schists and sandstone overlying the nummulite rocks
and the great mass of strata of that age in the Alps. On the other
hand, the fossil researches of M. Zeuschner afford clear evidence, that
other and large portions of this sandy argillaceous series are equiva-
lents of members of the cretaceous system*. This is precisely what
I have indicated, where the mineral representatives of the white
chalk of Switzerland and Bavaria approach the Eastern Alps, and
where the whole series between the neocomian limestone and the
molasse or nagelflue assumes its arenaceous or northern type.

Part III.
ON THE CHIEF FORMATIONS OF THE APENNINES AND ITALY.

Although less complicated than the Alps, and not containing a
vestige of the older formations which have been detected in parts of
that chain, the Apennines and their fianks offer many difficult pro-
blems, which even at this day remain in some degree obscure. The
labours of native geologists in the last few years have, it is true, done
much to clear away these doubts, the proofs of which will be found
in the proceedings of the last three meetings of the men of science of
Italy+. After personal inspection of some of the tracts in which the
leading questions have been agitated, I will now endeavour to point
out the extent to which the structure of the peninsula agrees with
that ofthe Alps. In the first place, then, the whole of the palzeozoic
series 1s wanting in the continent of Italy, nor are there sufficient
grounds for supposing that the trias has any existence init. For
although the Marquess Pareto, one of the leaders of our science in
Italy, has suggested, that the conglomerate called Verrucano (the

* Count Keyserling, to whom I am indebted for a clear and concise view of the
last researches of Prof. Zeuschner, reminds me, that the curious body called a
Spherosiderites, and described by Professor Glocker of Breslau (Acta Acad. Ces.
Leop. Carol. Nat. Curios. tom. xix. part 2. p. 673 and tab. 79), which M. von
Buch first proclaimed to be a Nautilus, has under the examination of M. von
Hauer, jun., proved to be the Nautilus plicatus (Fitton) of the lower greensand,
or NV. requienianus (D’Orb.). This fossil occurs in Moravia near Frankstatt and
Tickau, in what is called by M. von Hauer ‘‘ Wiener sandstein!’’ For afull account
of the secondary fossils of the Carpathians, see Zeuschner’s memoir on the struc-
ture of the Tatra Verh. R.K. Miner. Gesr. St. Petersburgh, 1847, which I only re-
ceived when this sheet was in print. So far as I have had time to study it, this
memoir would rather confirm my opinions.—June 25.

+ See the volumes of the “ Riunione degli Scienziati Italiani” of the Milan, Genoa
and Venice meetings.

264 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 13,

lowest known sedimentary stratum) may be the equivalent of the
trias, that opinion cannot be adopted without some fossil evidences.
Whilst the mainland is void of palzeozoic rocks, they exist however
in Sardinia, where they were discovered by General della Marmora.
These rocks prove by their fossils to be true Silurian limestones and
schists*. In Sardinia, deposits with species of paleeozoic coal plants
also occur, but unluckily the political troubles of Italy prevented my
examination of these rocks. General della Marmora has, however,
left no spot of the island unsurveyed, and having made a beautiful
topographical map of it, he will soon complete his important work,
and inform us whether the coal deposits of that island, like those of
Oporto described by Mr. Sharpe, are associated with the Silurian rocks,
or are of subsequent age. The existence of Lower Silurian rocks in
Portugal, as recently made known to us by Mr. Sharpe+—the preva-
lence of Devonian fossils in the north of Spain, and the presence of
both Silurian and Devonian strata in Morocco}, where they were
first recognised by M. Coquand—their persistence along the African
Atlas and their reappearance near Constantinople, are data sufficient
to enable us to picture to ourselves a vast girdle of paleeozoic rocks
of which the Alps and the Pyrenees formed the northern and the
north-western limits, and which, having been elevated from beneath
the sea at a very ancient period, have constituted the shores of a large
Mediterranean in which the secondary and tertiary rocks of Italy
have since been accumulated. In this sense, Sardinia may perhaps
be only viewed as a detached island in this ancient basin.

Excluding from our present consideration the eruptive rocks, whe-
ther plutonic or volcanic, which have perforated the subsoil of Italy
in so many places, and not now alluding to certain ancient crystalline
rocks of Calabria and Sicily, it may be said that the chief mineral
masses of the peninsula in ascending order are—Ist, limestones and
schists ; 2ndly, hard sandstones and impure limestones often compact ;
and 3rdly, marls, sands and conglomerates. The lowest of these
great lithological groups embraces in some regions both the jurassic
and cretaceous systems; the second or arenaceous group represents
in given countries both the upper cretaceous and that which I have
shown to be the eocene of the Alps; whilst the third contains the
miocene, pliocene, and other overlying strata. ‘To this general litho-

* General della Marmora kindly sent to me a collection of those fossils, inclu-
ding orthoceratites and graptolites. These were examined and partially named
by M. de Verneuil, to whom I transmitted them; but having lost that memoran-
dum, which was forwarded to me in Italy, I subsequently referred these fossils to
Mr. Sharpe, who is satisfied that they belong to the Lower Silurian group. In
addition to orthoceratites, graptolites, crinoids, &c., Mr. Sharpe recognises eight
or nine species of Orthis, among the best-preserved of which are the Orthis patera
(Salter, MSS.), common near Bala, and O. Lusitanica (Sharpe), of the Lower Si-
lurian rocks of Vallongo near Oporto, closely related to the O. flabellulum, Sow.
Sil. Syst. The Spirifer terebratuliformis (M‘Coy) also occurs,—a species of the
Lower Silurian rocks of Cumberland and Ireland.

t+ See Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. v. p. 142, and pl. 6. fig. 5 (Russia in Europe
and Ural Mountains, Map of),

~ For the Devonian rocks of the Asturias see Paillette’s memoir, Bull. Soc. Géol.
de France, vol. ii. p. 439, and for the paleozoic rocks of Morocco see id. vol. iv.
p. 1188.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 265

logical arrangement there are, however, local exceptions of consider-
able extent. In many tracts, also, the absence or extreme rarity of
fossils, and the rapid undulations and frequent breaks in the strata,
render it very difficult closely to identify each rock-formation with
its equivalent in other parts of Europe. ‘This last remark applies
chiefly to the rocks of jurassic and cretaceous age; for the great
masses of the hard sandstone or macigno, particularly where it is
associated with nummulites, are unquestionably supracretaceous or
eocene ; whilst each of the younger deposits which overlie them is
easily referable, both by order of superposition and abundant organic
remains, to its respective place in the tertiary series.

In his recently published general geological map of Italy and its ad-
jacent isles, M. Collegno having inserted the Silurian rocks of Sardimia
as the lowest known sedimentary deposit, attempts two divisions
only of all the rock masses of the peninsula beneath the miocene.
The lowest of these, from the verrucano conglomerate upwards to
the Oxfordian Jura, is coloured as jurassic ; whilst all the overlying
strata, whether they represent the neocomian, upper greensand and
chalk, together with the nummulitic limestones and macigno, are
classed together as cretaceous. It will be readily understood, from what
has been said of the Alps, that I must object to the arbitrary union
of the two last-mentioned masses with the cretaceous rocks; and
hence one of my chief objects will be to show, that in Italy, as in the
Alps, the nummulitic and upper macigno group is also of eocene age.
I shall further indicate the existence of a natural succession from the
top of the eocene or bottom of the miocene up into the pliocene,
wherein the fossils exhibit a zoological transition into the latter period.
But before I enter on these prominent points of this part of the me-
moir, I will first say a few words on the jurassic rocks, which are the
oldest in which organic remains have been discovered in the penin-
sula, and then give a brief sketch of the true cretaceous rocks which
succeed to them.

The best key to an acquaintance with the lowest strata containing
organic remains, with which I am acquainted, is that which is ex-
hibited in the promontories of the gulf of La Spezia and the ad-
jacent parallel ridges of the Apuan Alps. This tract has long been
known to English and French geologists by the able description of
Sir Henry De la Beche, published many years ago, and to Italians
by a memoir of M. Guidoni*. Even at the time when he wrote, Sir
H. De la Beche suggested, that the fossils found on the west side of
the bay were probably of oolitic or jurassic age, though from their
peculiar characters and the supposed presence among them of ortho-
ceratites and goniatites (the latter being then called ammonites of the
coal-fields), he very properly left the question somewhat open. But
since then, additional collections and a rigid examination of the or-
ganic remains have settled the question. The supposed small ortho-
ceratites are found to be simply the alveoli of belemnites, and the
ammonites, though not occurring in England, belong to forms known
in the jurassic series of Southern Europe. Grouping the observa-
tions of his contemporaries, and adding fresh data of his own, the

* See Trans. Géol. Soc. Fr. lee sér. vol. i. p. 23, and Giornale Ligustico, 1828.

266 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SociETY. [Dec. 13,

late Professor Pilla* has recently given a section across the gulf of
La Spezia, with the main points of which I entirely agree, particularly
in proving, that the ammonitiferous band is not the oldest limestone
of the tract, as was formerly supposed, but, on the contrary, is the
youngest of its Jura deposits. In any attempt to classify the jurassic
rocks of Italy, it must be admitted, that they differ so much from the
types of Northern Europe, whether in the composition of the rocks or
in the paucity and peculiarity of their fossils, that English geologists
will agree with me in thinking, that it is even more unwise than in
the Alps to endeavour to force their divisions into too close an accord-
ance with our well-known and clearly-characterized British formations.
The true doctrine on this point has, indeed, been clearly laid down by
Von Buch in a masterly generalization, in which, dwelling on certain
marked fossils only, which pervade the Alps, Carpathians and Italy,
he has signalized the existence of two great bands, the lower of which
may be termed Jura-lassic ; the other and overlyig mass, the equiva-
lent of the Oxford oolite and clay. I have already indicated in a
general manner how this classification is applicable to the Alps, and I
have now only to add, that though it has been as yet much less clearly
developed in Italy, there are sufficient evidences of its value among
the undulations of the Apennines and their flanking parallel ridges.
Jurassic formations in the gulf of La Spezia, in the adjoining moun-
tains of the Apuan Alps, and in the Monti Pisani, §c.—The pro-
montories which flank the long and deep bay of La Spezia on the
KE. and W. are composed of limestones, which, trending from N.N.W.
to 8.S.E., are parallel to the loftier ridges of the same age, which
further in the interior and to the south constitute the serrated chain
of Carrara, Massa and Serravezza, and are, after a short imterval, re-
produced in the Pisan hills. After looking at the latter I walked
over the Apuan Alps, passmg from Gallicano in the valley of the
Serchio on the east, by the peaks of Le Pannie and the pass of Pe-
trosciano to Stazzemma and Serravezza ; and then flanking the western
zone of these Alps by Massa and Carrara to Sarzana, I traversed to
La Spezia. If I had seen the calcareous masses in the Apuan Alps
only as they there appear in the form of dolomites, rauch-kalk, and
many varieties of ornamental and statuary marble, I should have been
wholly unprepared to admit that they could be the equivalents of the
liassic and jurassic series. But I satisfied myself that all these cry-
stallme rocks, even where they rise into the lofty peaks of Altissimo,
are simply altered masses, which in their prolongation to the Pisan
hills contain fossils. Among the lowest strata are crystalline schists
and pebbly conglomerate or verrucano. The geological equivalent of
this conglomerate has been much discussed; some geologists, like
M. Pilla, desirmg to prove it to be paleeozoic; others, like Pareto as
before said, believing it to represent the trias; and others, cluding
Collegno, viewing it simply as the base of the lias. In the mean-
* Unhappily cut off in the flower of his age at Mantua, in the late war in the
north of Italy. I had not the advantage of being acquainted with the memoir
of Professor Pilla when I examined La Spezia, but 1 was aware of his views in
general, as also of those of M. Collegno, who communicated a description of the

tract to the meeting of the !talian men of science at Venice, in which he specially
adverted to a great longitudinal fault.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 267

time, no trace of organisms having been detected in the verrucano,
it is enough to repeat, that it underlies the fossiliferous liasso-
jurassic limestones. The lowest masses in the deep gorges near
Stazzemma are the well-known mottled “ Bardiglo”’ and other
marbles. These are overlaid by schists with quartz veins, which
have been converted into dark slates having a true cleavage, and are
largely worked for use. The latter are covered by massive buttresses
of cavernous “rauch-kalk,” in parts graduating into a black and
dark dolomite forming picturesque peaks. On the eastern side of
the range this massive buttress is irregularly overlapped by lighter-
coloured limestones with flints, possibly the representative of the
neocomian limestones, which in their turn throw off macigno and
other overlying rocks. In ascertaining that the crystalline marbles
of Carrara are really altered jurassic rocks, Professor Pilla has shown,
that the dark-coloured fossiliferous limestone of the valley of the
Tecchia, which contains the same fossils as the marble of Porto Venere,
can be followed until it graduates by a change of colour and crystal-
lization into the pure white marble of Carrara*. Professor Savi ad-
mits that the mimeral masses exhibit the same general succession
in the Pietre Santine and Apuan Alps as in the Pisan hillst. Now
the latter, which I examined, are unquestionably for the most part
of jurassic, or of what some geologists may call Jura-liassic age, as
proved by fossils.

In the parallel of Carrara and to the north of that place, the white
marble rocks, forming regular strata, rise up with associated schists
into the lofty peaks of Altissimo, &c., and dipping to the W. and
N.N.W. form the eastern boundary of a great trough watered by
the Magra, the centre of which, occupied by tertiary and alluvial
accumulations (Caniparolo and Sarzana), is flanked on either side by
low hills of macigno, the strata of which repose, on the east, upon the
limestones of the Apuan Alps, and on the west, upon the calcareous
promontory that forms the eastern side of the gulf of La Spezia.

When this promontory is surveyed in the coast cliffs between the
headland of Ponte Corvo near the mouth of the Magra and the
town of La Spezia, it is seen to be made up, on a miniature scale, of
nearly all the varieties of limestone, schist, breccia, rauch-kalk and
marble, which constitute the lofty parallel chain of the Apuan Alps.
I made a detailed examination of all the strata from the south of
Capo Corvo, by Porto Telaro to the old fort of St. Bartolommeo,
and found that there was there the same ascending order as in the
Apuan Alps, and I was therefore convinced that it was simply a less
elevated parallel fold of similar rock-masses (fig. 32). The lower
strata are grey, calcareous schists, courses of scaly limestone, in parts
highly altered, overlapped by a strong band of white, thick-bedded,
impure, statuary marble, with a schistose lamination. This passes
up into a concretionary, mottled, purple and white limestone, large
calcareous geodes beg arranged in the lamine of deposit in a base
of glossy purple and green schist. This calcareous group (1) is

* Bull. Soc. Géol. de France, 1847, vol. iv. p. 1069.

+ Considerazioni sulla struttura geologica delle Montagne Pietre Santine, dal
Prof. Cav. Paolo Savi: Pisa, 1847.

268 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [ Dec. 13,

presents the aspect of having undergone a metamor-
phosis which has affected the hard purple schists, the
conglomerate or pebbly beds, and the green schists
above them, the latter being traversed in many di-
rections by white veins of carbonate of lime. This
mass (2), not less than 300 feet thick, is amorphous,
and in colour partially resembles serpentine*. After
passing a portion of the cliff which is obscured by
detritus, a dark or almost black limestone with white
veins appears, undulating irregularly, and plunging
on the whole to the west and by north. This rock
is covered by dark schists, the whole probably re-
presenting the dark limestone and schists of Porto
Venere on the opposite side of the bay. These thin-
‘~~ bedded dark masses are followed by the remarkable
(Sa rocks which constitute the sea-worn, amorphous and
ff cavernous rauch-kalk on which the picturesque old
| town of Porto Telaro is built. From this pomt,
‘ti passing to the fort of St. Bartolommeo, there are
2 undulations and breaks in lower and obscurer clifis,
in which the thin-bedded siliceous schists (slates of
Stazzemma) appear here and there beneath the rauch-
kalk. All the calcareous rocks of this series are
flanked by a vertically twisted and confused, coarse
conglomerate, made up of lumps of all the above-
“\U/" mentioned rocks.
\ i I have spoken of this highly modified range on the
east side of the gulf to show its lithological accordance
with the chief masses in the Apuan Alps, and because
it exhibits the same order of succession of mineral
masses. It is however only on the western shores of
the bay, in another parallel undulation of these lime-
¢ stones, further removed from the chief axes of dis-
|g turbance, that their age can be read off by help of
2 some imbedded fossils. The black limestones, with
white and yellow veins and associated dark schists
(No. 3), but not so metamorphosed as on the east
side of the bay, form the chief nucleus of this western
promontory. Ranging in highly inclined and vertical
forms, by the lofty, unfinished fort of Castellana,
they strike from N.N.W. to 8.S8.E., into the isle
of Palmaria, where they are largely quarried as the
black and brown marble of Porto Venere. Among
the fossils in this rock I procured a Lima, which re-
sembles a lower secondary fossil, and certain imperfect

R. Magra,

surmounted by a quartzo-schistose mass. (2), which

Ponte Corvo.

Lias? 3
(Upper.)

a—F

: Aa Pay as
ies ae OR
SS

Bay of La Spezia.

g..02.
Hills of macigno in the distance.

RAN \ Ye aI
2 — ae
wert

Hills of Corregna, Castellana.

Campiglia.

* IT could not help suspecting the contiguity of some erup-
tive rock to this peculiar limestone, and my boatman assured
me that when the sea was lower qne of my predecessors had
discovered a point of porphyry.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 269

coralline bodies, which occasionally weather out on the surface.
M. Pilla compares this rock with the lower ammonitic or liasso-
jurassic limestones of Como, and he cites the fossils as pertaining to
the genera Cardita, Modiola, Pecten, Terebratula, but does not
name the species.

A transverse section of the western promontory, from the gulf
south of La Spezia by the hills of Corregna to Campiglia, exhibits a
great line of fracture*, irregularly parallel to the ridge, along which
the highly twisted beds of dark-coloured limestones and schists (4)
have been snapped asunder, and by which a portion of the Porto Ve-
nere series is thrown into an inverted position, and seems irregularly
to overlap a series of strata which are unquestionably of younger age.
These are, first, grey limestones and dolomites, dipping to the N. and
S. of E. at 45°, followed by schists, shale, and very thin-bedded, finely
laminated ved and grey limestone, the angle of inclination in which
increases gradually to 70° E.N.E. and E. It is in this group, par-
ticularly in certain red and grey limestones, that most of the ammo-
nites and other peculiar fossils of La Spezia occur, which have been
enumerated by Sir H. De la Beche.

The above fossil zone is underlaid by rotten schists with sandy
rotten limestone, and then by numerous alternations of green and grey
limestone, whitish caleareous grits, purple and white and red schists,
in parts almost jaspideous, with courses of whitish limestone, the
whole (5) in very thin-bedded strata, in which unluckily no fossils
have been discovered. This calcareous series is flanked by a wall of
sandy and pebbly conglomerate, on which stands the lofty village of
Campiglia; and the beds, after first positively underlying all the
older series at an angle of 80°, first become vertical, and then dipping
away to the west form the base of all the hills of fine macigno sand-
stone. This conglomerate and the associated macigno are thus seen
to partake intimately of the same great elevations and flexures which
have affected the older limestones in the Apuan Alps and in the gulf
of La Spezia.

_ It is now well known that the macigno of this tract, which, both
from mineral character and order of superposition, was formerly taken
by geologists for the most ancient, is in fact the youngest of this series ;
but whether it represents a portion of the cretaceous system, or is
younger, is, in the absence of all fossils, still doubtful. That this
macigno is in an inverted position is also noticed by Pillat. In enu-
merating the list of fossils of the upper jurassic at Corregna, that
author mentions Ammonites Tatricus and Nerinea (the former I
found myself), and I have therefore no doubt that this band repre-
sents the “ammonitico rosso” or Oxfordian of the Alps, and that
the masses intercalated between it and the macigno are probably im-
perfect and non-fossiliferous equivalents of some member of the cre-
taceous rocks.

* M. Collegno sent a memoir on La Spezia to be read at the meeting of the
Scienziati Italiani of Venice, 1847, in which he indicated a great line of fault par-
allel to the strike. He afterwards explained his view of the phenomenon to me,

tT Bull. de la Soc. Géol. de France, vol. iv. p. 1069, section pl. 6. fig. 2.

VOL. V.—PART I, U

270 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. {[ Dec. 13,

I will only add, that I believe the deep bay of La Spezia has been
excavated in a synclinal trough of macigno, whilst the hard inferior
limestones and marbles-have resisted, and form broken anticlinals on
either side of the bay. On the east we see, in fact, another and broader
parallel synclinal trough, the valley of the Magra, which has been
excavated in similar macigno, covered by some remnants of overlying
tertiary. Again, when we traverse the great anticlinal of the Apuan
Alps, and descend into the valley of the Serchio, we meet with a third
and similar trough, on the eastern side of which the lower portion of
the macigno rises up into mountainous elevations, of which hereafter.

I have commenced with this superficial sketch of the general ar-
rangement of the rocks in this northern tract of Italy, not merely
because the oldest known limestones in the chain of the Apennines
are brought out in parallel anticlinals, but because the outline of
ridge and furrow, here so clearly developed, is a key to the general
structure of the Apennines. In truth, the Italian peninsula is not
characterized by one central backbone or central axis, but is made up
of a frequent repetition of.axes, the rocks composing which are some-
times much altered, often dismembered, and frequently covered over
by younger sediments ; the older portions of the series bemg only seen
at intervals as we follow the chain from N.N.W. to S.S.E. Thus,
jurassic rocks have not been detected in the broad and mountainous
undulations which extend over the principalities of Lucca and Parma,
or the country of Genoa, a region almost entirely occupied by lime-
stones and macigno sandstone, whose age I shall presently endeavour
to explain.

In the northern portion of the Tuscan Maremma, I examined, in
company with M. Pilla and M,. Coquand, the axis of jurassic rocks
which, at Campiglia, are converted into domes of crystalline white
marble in the contiguity of points of granite. This marble throws off
on its flanks a compact thin-bedded limestone with encrinites over-
laid by schists, with Posidonia Jossia, the latter being abruptly trun-
cated against masses of macigno and alberese. This jurassic group
is evidently the prolongation of one of the zones of the above-described
Apuan Alps and Pisan hills*. The existence of true jurassic rocks has
further been clearly indicated by M. E. de Vecchi in Monte Cetona,
on another parallel between the Maremma and the Apennines. The
nucleus of this hillis evidently the same Oxfordian limestone with Am-
monites Tatricus which constitutes the upper group at La Spezia.
Again, in another parallel, the group of mountains between the Ma- .
remma and Sienna, composed of white, yellow and red marbles (the
Montagnuolo Senese), the whole reposing on a conglomerate, probably
represent the jurassic series, since they are overlaid by scaglia; but
no fossils have yet been detected in them.

In following the chief ridges of the Apennines to the south, but-
tresses of true jurassic rocks are indeed here and there visible, rising
out from beneath overlying formations. Ammonites, of the group

* Some of the phenomena on the flanks of the granite of Campiglia and the

promontory of Piombino are analogous to those of the adjacent isle of Elba, and
the rocks are loaded with various crystals of iron ore.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 271

of A. elegans, occur in the mountains east of Perugia, and also in the
red marble limestone of Monte Malbe, west of that city. The Am-
monites Tatricus and others of the Oxfordian group are found in the
limestones of Monte Subasio, east of Assisi, and at La Rossa, between
Fossato and Fimbriano. In this region also, as in the Apuan Alps
and at La Spezia, such ammonitic rocks rise out as axes, throwing off
troughs of younger strata, the sides of the hills being for the most
part occupied by vast accumulations of macigno.

At Cesi, near Terni, on the very outer western edge of the Apen-
nine chain, I found red limestone and shale, in parts undistinguishable
from the “ammonitico rosso” of the Venetian Alps or that of La
Spezia, presenting a bluff escarpment to the tertiary subapennine ac-
cumulations of the valley of the Tiber, and loaded with characteristic
ammonites, such as Ammonites Tatricus, A. biplex, &c. The red
ammonitic rocks of Cesi, which are clearly of Oxfordian age, repose
upon a grey limestone of perhaps a thousand feet in thickness, with
siliceous or flint nodules, and are covered by flaglike limestones and
bosses and peaks of dolomite. Now, if characteristic fossils were not
found in the red zone (a rare phenomenon in the Apennines), who
could have divined the age of these rocks? and how should we have
seen speculations on the underlying flinty cream-coloured limestone
being perchance neocomian or scaglia? It is indeed a nauseous task
for the geologist to wander for days in these mountains without the
trace of fossils, and hence the ammonites of Cesi are invaluable land-
marks.

The paleontological researches of Professor Ponzi in the eastern
half of the Papal States, when combined with the mineralogical de-
scriptions of his distinguished coadjutor Count Lavinia Medici Spada,
in reference to the volcanic and crystalline rocks, will, I trust, at no
distant day be embodied in a work which, coupled with the labours of
Count A. C. Spada and Prof. Orsini on the Adriatic side of the great
axis of the Apennines, will throw much light on this subject. Pro-
fessor Ponzi has assured me, that however difficult to separate these
limestones lithologically, there are numerous places along the western
edge of the chief ridge of the Apennines (extending from Scheggia
and Monte Cucco on the N.N.W. by Fossato Gualdo to Col Fiorito
on the 8.8.E.), where limestones with jurassic ammonites occur, and
that near La Scheggia and elsewhere these are seen to pass under
cretaceous rocks. Now, this ridge is parallel to others of similar age :
Ist, that of Monte Subasio and its prolongations on the east side of
the valley of Spoleto; 2ndly, of Cesi, west of Terni; and 3rdly, that
of Monte Cetona; and another might even be enumerated in the
Tuscan Maremma. These facts sufficiently indicate the prevalent out-
Ine of ridges and troughs directed from N.N.W. to8.8.E., into which
so large a portion of the peninsula is divided. Patient examination,
however, can alone detect the extent to which true jurassic rocks, as
defined by the fossils, are separable from those of neocomian and
cretaceous age.

Amidst the varieties of marble which abound in the Roman States,
_there is little doubt that the common red “ cottannello,’’ of which the

272 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [Dec. 13,

great columns in the facade of St. Peter are made, as well as the
‘breccia di Simone,”’ are the Roman representatives of the “ ammo-
nitico rosso,’ or Oxfordian.

Of the extent to which jurassic rocks may crop out on various
parallels of the grand mountainous undulating region of the central
Apennines, which runs down from the lofty Sibilla and Leonessa into
the kingdom of Naples, no one is yet perfectly informed; but the
researches of Orsini and Alessandro Spada teach us that jurassic rocks
reoccur on the eastern side of the axis, the chief elevated points of
which are either cretaceous or nummulitic. I satisfied myself, indeed,
that the mass of mountains coloured as jurassic by Collegno, which
extends from Civita Castellana to Gaeta, is cretaceous, and forms part
of the rocks of that age around Naples*. The lowest visible strata,
however, in the great promontory on the south side of the bay of
Naples, and notably the bituminous limestones of Torre Orlando,
are classed by Agassiz as jurassic because they contain the Pycnodus
rhombus, Ag., Notagogus Pentland, Ag., &c. Again, certain lower
strata of the Val Giffoni, east of Nocera, may be referred to the age
of the lias, in consequence of the description of their ichthyolites by
Sir P. Egerton, viz. the Semionotus Pentland: (Kgert.), S. pustu-
lifer (Egert.), and S. minutus (Kgert.) +.

Cretaceous Rocks of Italy.

Clear distinctions between the cretaceous and jurassic rocks of
Italy can, for reasons already assigned, be seldom safely effected, ex-
cept where the one or the other contains fossils, and can thus be com-
pared with the types in the Alps. At Nice on the west, near Milan
in the centre, and in the Vicentine on the east, the flanks of the Alps
afford us, indeed, good keys, which explain the order of succession.
But we no sooner quit the edges of those mountaims and advance into
Italy, than we lose for a long space nearly all evidences of true cre-
taceous rocks as proved by their fossils. We then find ourselves in
broad, mountainous undulations of sandstone, schist, and impure lime-
stone, some of which have a striking resemblance to the flysch of the
Alps. The geological map of Liguria Marittima, by the Marquis
Pareto, extending from Nice on the one hand to La Spezia on the
other, and the work that accompanies it{, expose the difficulties,
which even an able geologist intimately acquainted with his country

* The author of this map is aware of the error, and informed me of it before I
visited the tract. In the first effort to map a country such errata are inevitable,
and our best thanks are due to M. Collegno for his endeavour to produce the first
general geological map of his country.

t+ See Proc. Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. iv. p. 183.

t In the ‘Cenni geologici sulla Liguria Marittima,’ p. 30-47, Pareto considers
all the macigno and alberese of Liguria to be cretaceous or secondary, because
it contains fucoids. It is nowhere associated with nummulites. But in respect
even to the latter, he classes the lowest great band of them at Nice as also cre-
taceous, because it succeeds in overlying order to a representative of the chalk in
which green grains abound. In truth, however, there can be no doubt that all the
nummulite rock of Nice is truly eocene and tertiary, and that it reposes on the
equivalent of the chalk with inocerami. As to the non-fossiliferous macigno and
alberese of the Genovesato, it is hopeless at present to define their age with pre-

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 273

experiences, in handling this part of the subject in such aregion. At
Nice indeed the succession is clearly shown from neocomian lime-
stone, through greensand and chalk, up to overlymg nummulitic
strata ; but in the whole of the tract east and west of Genoa, the slaty,
hard, calcareous flagstones (alberese) and the macigno sandstones are
grouped together as a higher member of the secondary series. In fol-
lowing the northern edges of the great plain of Piedmont, a wall of
crystalline and eruptive rock subtends the alluvial plains of the Po ;
and though some representatives of cretaceous rocks flank the Alps and
rest upon jurassic limestones to the north of Milan and near Como,
I shall not now speak of these, because I have not visited them.

Good types of the cretaceous rocks of the north of Italy occur,
however, in that outlier of the Alps with which I am acquainted,
the Euganean hills. Separated from the chain by the trough of the
lower tertiary deposits of the Vicentine, these hills, long known to
consist chiefly of eruptive trachytes and scaglia, or the equivalent of
the chalk, have, thanks to their vicinity to the abode of scientific men
at Padua, been at length well developed. In his elaborate work, full
of lithological and mineral description and views concerning the
pseudo-volcanic operations of the region, M. Da Rio has also the merit
of having enumerated, with the assistance of Professor Catullo and
others, a certain number of fossils*. But these were not so described
or grouped as to furnish to any extent geological divisions in the
secondary rocks, though on the whole the strata contaming Ammo-
nites, Belemnites, and certain Echini (Ananchytes ovatus) were sepa-
rated from the strata loaded with nummulites, which, in following
Brongniart, M. da Rio considered to be tertiary. The more recent
researches of Pasini and Catullo, and particularly those of De “igno,
show that the calcareous masses, formerly known under the terms of
grey, white and red scaglia, are divisible into formations by their fos-
sils; the lowest of these representing the Oxfordian or ‘ ammoni-
tico rosso” of the Alps, with Ammonites Hommairi (D’Orb.), A.
biplee (Sow), and 4. Zignoanus (D’Orb.). The next or neocomian,
forming the base of the cretaceous system, is characterized by the Crio-
eeras Duvali, Belemnites dilatatus (Blainv.), Ammonites eryptoceras
(D’Orb.), A. Astiertanus (D’Orb.), and A. infundibulum (D’Orb.).
The next overlying stage is considered to be the “ Aptien,”’ D’Orb.,
and contains the Hippurites neocomiensis, with Spherulites and Am-
monites Guettardi. The uppermost band is the scaglia, or true
equivalent of the white chalk, with Inoceramus Lamarckhit, dnanchytes
tuberculatus, Holaster, &c.

In his description of the ‘‘ Terreno-Cretaceo”’ of the Venetian Alps,
as exhibited in the Monfenera between Fener on the north and Pede-

cision, void as they are of fossils and perforated in all directions by serpentine and
eruptive rocks. It may however be supposed, as suggested in the text, that a part
of them may be cretaceous, and a part, on the parallel of strata which elsewhere
contain nummulites. The same species of fucoids ranging throughout the eocene
of the Alps down into the lower chalk of Northern Italy, are no criteria of age.

* Orittologia Euganea del Nobile Niccolo da Rio, Padova, 1836, with a coloured
map and a lithographic profile.

274 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socieTy. [ Dec. 13,

robba on the south, M. de Zigno has fully developed the order and
component parts of the ‘‘cretaceous system” of Northern Italy.
Identifying the ‘‘ biancone’”’ with the ‘‘ majolica”’ of Milan, he shows,
by its several species of Crioceras and many species of Ammonites,
published by D’Orbigny as neocomian from Provence, that these
Italian limestones form truly the base of the cretaceous rocks, and are
perfectly to be distinguished from the grey and red scaglia above
them, and from the Oxfordian Jura or ‘“‘ammonitico rosso”’ beneath
them. I can only venture to differ from the Itahan geologists when
they state that a limestone between the neocomian and the upper
scaglia contains nummulites. All the small bodies supposed to be
nummulites*, when seen on the surface of such cretaceous lime-
stones, have proved to be other genera of foraminifera (chiefly Or-
bitolites) when closely examined. The course of sandstone intercalated
between the so-called neocomian and the scaglia or chalk is perfectly
in accordance with the section of the Grimten and Bavarian Alps (see
p- 204).

In the Euganean hills, then, as in the Venetian Alps, the upper
member of the chalk is surmounted by the well-known lower tertiary
nummulitic rocks of the Vicentine, in which species of nummulites
occur, together with Turbinolia and other fossils. This tertiary
group runs into the hills south of Vicenza, which constitutes a part
of the eocene accumulations before alluded to. When, however, we
quit this Euganean outlier or island, and travel over the intervening
plains to the centre of the Apennines, we are, as in Liguria, immersed
im that very different mineral type to which allusion has already been
made. The limestones, some of which may stand im the place of
upper members of the cretaceous system, are traversed by serpen-
tines, and scarcely ever contain the trace of animal organic remains.
In vain, for example, does the geologist explore the limestones con-
stituting the chief ridge between Bologna and Florence, or the axis
between Liguria and Piedmont; for with a few examples of fucoids
only, he can find no fossil base-line whatever in descending order, and

* See “ Sul Terreno Cretaceo dell’ Italia Settentrionale,”’ Padova 1846. When
the Men of Science were assembled at Venice in 1847, I in vain endeavoured to
detect a true nummulite found in this cretaceous rock. Among the unequivocal
neocomian fossil species of D’Orbigny, cited by De Zigno, are, Ammonites astie-
rianus, A. Guetturdi, A. macilentus, A. Juilleti, A. inegualicostatus, A. Grasi-
anus, A. Morelianus, A. subfimbriatus, A. recticostatus, A. Matheronii, A. Ter-
verii, A. bidichotomus (Leym.), Belemnites dilatatus (Blainv.), B. latus (Bl.),
Crioceras Emerici (D'Orb.), C. Duvalii (Léveillé), and C. Da Rio (Zigno). With
these and the Spatangus retusus are associated two species of Aptychus. One
of the latter has been supposed by Von Buch to occur also in the upper Jura.
In his memoir before referred to, M. Zeuschner cites two species of jurassic Apty-
chi and the Terebratula diphya as being associated with many forms of neoco-
mian age in the same band of Carpathian rocks, an anomaly which I have endea-
voured to explain, pp. 260, 261.

In his description, M. de Zigno further shows, that the conjoint elevation of the
cretaceous and overlying tertiaries has extended from the tract where I first de-
scribed it to the longitude of Feltre. Whilst these pages are passing through the
press, I learn from M. de Zigno that he has in great part carried out the work te
which I alluded p. 223.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 279

the vast masses of associated macigno sandstone are scarcely more pro-
ductive. As to the fucoids found in the Florentine Apennines, they
have much too great a vertical range to afford any criterion whatever
of the true age of the rocks. Forms said to be similar occur in the
grey or lower scaglia of the Venetian Alps, and are, as I have shown,
still more abundantly developed in the supracretaceous macigno or
flysch of the Northern Alps.

Rare as they are, certain fossils have, however, been found ; and the
existence of the solitary Hamites Micheli of Fiesole, of one ammonite
discovered by Mr. Pentland, and of another by the Marchese Pareto,
are, in the absence of other countervailing fossil proofs, enough to
satisfy me, that there is here a zone, which, in a peculiar lithological
form, represents the cretaceous system, as on the north flank of the
Carpathians. I consider this group to be the equivalent of the upper
greensand and chalk, which has assumed very much the same “‘flysch”’
or macigno characters as the cretaceous deposits of Gosau. I am very
far, however, from agreeing with Professor Savi, that all the macigno
is cretaceous. On the contrary, I am convinced that probably the
largest masses of that rock, and particularly whenever they surmount
or are associated with nummulitic strata, are of eocene age. The
beds at Perolla, near Massa Marittima, which contain the Gryphea
figured by Pilla, represent in my estimate the uppermost cretaceous,
or band of transition into the lower tertiary rocks.

True equivalents of the neocomian are, as before said, rare in the
north of Italy. In the environs of the baths of Lucca, the position
and lithological aspect of the mountain called ‘‘ Prato Fiorito” led me
to believe that it was of neocomian age. It is composed of compact
cream-coloured limestone (a and 4, fig. 33), with numerous nodules of

Fig. 33.
East of the Baths of Lucca.
W.N.W. Prato Fiorito. E.S.E.
%
g Fi c ibe a
Hard grey and green macigno. Alberese. Neocomian ?

flint, precisely resembling the “‘ biancone’’ which in the Venetian Alps
is proved to be of that age. Moreover, I found it to be surmounted
by bands of impure sandy limestone, schist, red scaglia, &c. (¢ and d),
which might very well pass for the greensand and chalk ; whilst the
great mass of macigno overlying the whole series constituted the chief
peaks of the surrounding mountais. These again are followed by a
peculiar calcareous breccia and agglomerate (f), which seemed to
occupy the usual place of the chief nummulitic zone of Italy ; the whole
being surmounted by the great mass of macigno of which the sur-
rounding adjacent mountains are for the most part composed. But,
after a long search, I could find no organic remains except a rude
cast, which might be a Crioceras, and which I detected near the sum-
mit of the supposed neocomian. Fucoids indeed are seen on the faces

276 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

of the scaglia-like and impure limestone which here underlies the great
mass of macigno.

Passing from these difficulties, in defining the equivalents of
the cretaceous rocks in Liguria, Modena, Lucea and Tuscany, and
their relations to inferior and superior strata, the true cretaceous
system is not only observable at tervals in the southward range of
the Apennines, but on various parallels resumes its calcareous and
fossil characters, and constitutes ridges of considerable length in
Southern Italy. In the Papal States these limestones, undergoing
many undulations and breaks, constitute the chief chains which flank
the valleys of Umbria, the Sabine mountains (Tivoli, Subiaco and
Palestrina), and the Volscian hills extendmg to Gaeta and Naples.
Although these rocks are in their upper portion chiefly characterized
by hippurites, I am unprepared to define to what extent they may
be divided into formations representing the neocomian or lower
greensand, as separated from the upper greensand and chalk. I will,
however, presently describe how these hippuritic limestones of the
Sabine hills are surmounted by nummulitic rocks and macigno. In
the limestones of Gaeta, whether crystalline, saccharoid or compact,
I found many hippurites. The same rocks rising up into the ridge of
Monte Marzo, near St. Agata, are underlaid by a thin-bedded, earthy
and sometimes bitumimous, dark-coloured limestone, which may be
considered neocomian. ‘The jurassic limestones of Sorrento are of
great thickness and contain hippurites ; whilst the whole of the above
series dips under macigno.

On the Eocene Rocks of Italy and thewr relations.

The group of this age, as clearly indicated by its overlying rela-
tions to true cretaceous rocks, has been sufficiently described in
respect to the Venetian Alps, the Vicentine and Kuganean hills. It
is also so well known in the environs of Nice, that it is sufficient to
cite the memoirs in which it has been noticed*. The great change
in mineral aspect which these deposits undergo, as they pass from

* T visited Nice in 1828 in company with Sir C. Lyell, since which period
much progress has been made in our acquaintance with the succession of the
strata in its environs. I have, however, a sufficient recollection of the physical
relations of the rock-masses to understand the value of the descriptions of the
Marquis Pareto (Liguria Marittima), and of M. Perez. The latter gave a very
elaborate account of the nummulitic deposits of that tract at the Genoa meeting
of the Scienziati Italiani; but whilst he allowed that the greater purt of the
nummulitic fossils were eocene, still, in compliance with the prevailing fashion,
he classed them as cretaceous, as well as the adjacent macigno of the Maritime
Alps which overlies the nummulitic group. The sections are, in a general sense,
so in accordance with my own in the Alps and Apennines, that it is unnecessary
I should do more than say, that they exhibit a succession of various bands contain-
ing nummulites, ostree, &c., the lowest of which repose on beds (often a green-
sand) with tnocerami of the chalk, and which in other places are charged with other
types of the upper cretaceous groups. A limestone with neocomian fossils, and
another with Oxfordian jurassic fossils, in descending order, completes therefore the
analogy with the succession in the Venetian Alps. The conclusion of M. Perez is,
that the macigno of the Maritime Alps is everywhere more recent than the num-
mulitic limestone.

18i8.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 277

one region to another, and above all the accompanying phenomenon
of an almost entire disappearance of organic remains, have neces-
sarily involved them in much obscurity m Liguria, Modena and
Tuscany. As a whole, there is indeed a strong lithological re-
semblance, as before said, between the rocks called macigno by the
Italians, and the flysch and Wiener sandstein of the Swiss and Au-
strian geologists. In the Apennines, as in the Alps (I have already
alluded to it in the Apuan ridge), there is a fine-grained small mica-
ceous sandstone which much resembles the ordinary macigno, whose
exact age, whether cretaceous or eocene, may be doubtful ; but I now
simply treat of that macigno which, wherever there have been no in-
versions, is either intercalated with, or superposed en masse to, the
nummulitic rocks. If we appeal to the environs of Florence, we see
that, however wanting in a clear cretaceous base-lme in the vicinity
of that city, the whole of the Tuscan series of alberese and macigno
sandstones repose upon secondary limestone (chiefly jurassic) in the
Pisan hills on the west, at Monte Cetona and Campiglia on the
south, and im the central Apennines of Monte Verame and Citta di
Castello on the east. In definmg the relations of the component
parts of this group, I have already expressed my belief, that in parts
of Tuscany the lower portion is probably the non-fossiliferous repre-
sentative of the upper portion of the cretaceous system. In fact, the
term ‘‘alberese’’ is so loosely applied to every light-coloured lime-
stone, pure or impure, which dips under or alternates with macigno,
and which may happen to contain fucoids, that it would be very
hazardous, in tracts so void of organic remains, to define the neat
limits between secondary and tertiary. We have not here, as in
the Alps, either a neocomian limestone with its fossils to represent
the lower greensand of the English, nor anything like the Alpine
equivalents of upper greensand and chalk. But, if so obscure in the
descending order (and he who crosses the chain from Bologna to Flo-
rence will admit this to be the case), these tracts have, however, one
strong point of comparison with the Alps in the lithological resem-
blance of their upper macigno to the flysch of the Swiss. They
further resemble certain Alpme tracts in having no rigid boundary or
break between the lowest strata in which nummulites occur, and the
beds above and below them. The best proof of this is, that Pro-
fessor Pilla described as one natural physical group, which he termed
*« Etrurian,” that which, on further inquiry, he conceived to be com-
posed in its lower part of strata referable to the chalk, and in its
higher part of a peculiar intermediary formation. As this Etrurian
system (so named from the country in all Europe most deprived of
organic remains) is thus composed of both secondary and tertiary
strata, it is manifest that the term is geologically inadmissible.
Whilst then the lowest alberese, and some macigno, may remain as
very ill-characterized cretaceous rocks, the upper Etrurian of Pilla is
in fact nothmg more than the eocene group of the Alps, like which
it contains, in some localities, zones of nummulitic limestone, and is
further surmounted by vast accumulations of macigno sandstone.
The nummulitic limestone of Mosciano, near Florence, having been

278 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 13,

much spoken of by Pilla and others, and having attracted the notice
of the geologists of the meeting at Florence, I visited* and made a
section of the strata which I now produce (fig. 34), as it differs

2 g Fig. 34.
S.S.E £3 N.N.W.
Mosciano. Ee Pieve a Settimo,
Za St. Martino. Valley of the Arno.

Upper macigno . ra ; eit d

sandstone. Dome of alberese.
essentially from those hitherto published+. It shows an underlying
light grey limestone or alberese, with fucoids followed by schists ;
next by the nummulitic limestone (f) ; and lastly by a vast over-
lying mass of macigno sandstone (g), as seen in the hills above St.
Martino. The lowest beds at the Calcinajo, to the south of Pieve-a-
Settimo, are thin-bedded, cream-coloured limestones (d?) of con-
choidal fracture, with marlstones which contain the Fucoides intri-
catus and F’. Targionit. These limestones, alternating with whitish
schists or marl, form a low dome, the south side of which dips under
other schists or shales of black and red colours, the ‘‘galestro”’ of
the natives (e), which are covered by a thin band of micaceous sand-
stone or macigno. Then come impure gritty light grey limestones
in strong beds of four to five feet thick (/), which conta small
nummulites (V. globulus?) and minute foraminifera, and towards their
upper portion pebbles of older compact limestone. These graduate
upwards into flaglike, sandy, impure limestone of a bluish tint, which
forms the passage into a great and distinctly overlying mass of
*““macigno”’’ (g). Beds of coarse grit or small conglomerate occur
near the base of the sandstones, in which are pebbles of quartz and
diallage, and above them are small micaceous sandstones, which,
although weathering yellowish, are of the usual grey macigno colours
when freshly quarried. Some of these masses assume spheroidal
shapes, and there are other alternations of similar sandstones and
shale, and coarse grits (conglomerates, &c.), which occupy the sum-
mits of the adjacent hills. Now, all these beds are perfectly con-
formable, and from below the village of St. Martino to the tops of the
hills they dip to the S.S.E. at angles gradually decreasing from 20°
to 10°. It is thus seen, that the nummulites occurring in the lower
part of all the macigno which is here exposed, are clearly covered by
another and much greater mass of macigno. These strata are there-
fore, according to my view, on the very same parallel as the nummulitic
and flysch group of the Alps.

The hills near Pistoja, and, in short, everywhere around the vale

* T was kindly accompanied by the Marchese Carlo Torrigiani and Professor Tar-
gioni-Tozzetti.

+ Compare my section with that of Pilla in his work, entitled ‘‘ Distinzione del
Terreno Etruri tra’ piani secondari del mezzo-giorno di Europa.” Pisa, 1846.
Tay. iii. fig. 3; and Mém. Soc. Géol. Fr. vol. ii. 2nd ser. p. 163.

+ Where these limestones are of a bluish-grey colour they are called ‘“‘ Colom-
bino,” as distinguished from the whiter beds or “ alberese.”

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 279

of the Arno, afford sections of macigno, and, whether of grey or
greenish-grey colours, it is usually the same slightly micaceous and
feebly calcareous sandstone with grains of black schist, the fine build-
ing-stone of this region. At Ripa-fratta and other places to the north
of the Pisan hills, this macigno is seen to dip away from all the chief
underlying calcareous masses. But unfortunately the absence of fossils
between the ammonitic group of the latter and the lowest beds of true
macigno (the interval being occupied by compact limestone with flints),
defeats any attempt at close comparisons *.

In ascending the valley of the Arno above Florence, and particu-
larly between Ponte Sieve and Incisa, strong bands of alberese lime-
stone undulate in rapid flexures or anticlinals, and dip under vast
thicknesses of macigno, which roll over rapidly to the W.N.W. and
E.S.E. At Monte Consuma these macigno rocks contain two or
three courses of nummulitic limestone, as Professor Pilla has already
indicated.

The grand masses of macigno which occupy the sides of the upper
valley of the Tiber near Arezzo and thence range down to the envi-
rons of Perugia may be followed to the flanks of the highest Apen-
nines, where they are seen to repose on the secondary limestones.
Between Arezzo and Perugia the macigno is copiously developed,
forming the hills on the eastern shores of the Thrasymene lake ; it
there clearly alternates with subordinate calcareous bands, and is itself
often slightly calciferous. It is here near the centre of a vast trough,
the limits of which are the secondary limestones of Monte Cetona
on the west and the Apennines on the east. I was not able to
satisfy myself, by any absolute superposition to strata with creta-
ceous fossils, whether these rocks are really of lower tertiary age ;
but my impression is that they are simply prolongations of the
eocene macigno of Arezzo and Monte Consuma, in which nummu-
litic bands occur. In examining them I was reminded of an obser-
vation made by my lamented friend M. Alex. Brongniart, who,
when I first showed him characteristic specimens of the upper
silurian rock of Ludlow, exclaimed that they were true ‘‘ macigno.”’
I assert that the small micaceous, slightly calcareous, earthy sand-
stones, breaking to a bluish heart within, and weathering to a dirty

* * Sulla costituzione geologica dei monti Pisani, memoria del Prof. Cav. Paolo
Savi, Pisa, 1846.” Placing the nummulitic limestone as the uppermost bed of
the cretaceous rocks, Professor Savi shows that it reposes on alberese with fucoids
with and without flints, macigno sandstone, argillaceous schists, and mottled
limestone with fucoids. Beneath this upper group are other and darker-coloured
limestones, with flints and fucoids, which form the base of the cretaceous rocks.
He then classes in the upper member of the jurassic series a light grey limestone
(also with flints), which, he says, passes into and contains some of the fossils of
the red ammonitic rock, about which no doubt exists. His lower jurassic or lias
is made up of whitish limestone with fossil bivalves and turriculated shells, of a dark
grey limestone, also with some obscure fossils, and lastly, at its base, of the
“ Verrucano.” The only horizon clearly marked by its secondary fossils in all this
series is the “‘ ammonitico rosso ;”’ but judging from the overlying position of the
nummulites in the south of Italy, as well as in the north, it is probable that the great
mass or lower portion of alberese limestones is, I repeat, really cretaceous. See a
translation of Prof. Savi’s Memoir in Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol.iii. part ii. p. 1-10.

280 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [ Dec. 13,

ash-colour, on which Flaminius was defeated by Hannibal, are
scarcely to be distinguished from those on which Caractacus made his
last stand against the Romans, although the one is either eocene or
younger cretaceous and the other Silurian paleeozoic! I make this
remark both as a fair excuse for the older geologists, who in a region
so void of fossils had considered this macigno to be an ancient “ grey-
wacke”’; and still more as a reason why the latter word should never
more be used, except in a mineralogical sense. This solid macigno
of the Thrasymene and Perugia, graduating upwards into thinner
courses with flaglike calcareous bands, is surmounted by the pebbly,
sandy, and marly accumulations on which Perugia is built *.

The whole of the western edge of the Apennines from Foligno to
Rome is void of macigno, and the grand trough or basin, between that
Apennine escarpment on the east and the ridges of secondary lime-
stone of the Siennese and Roman Maremma on the west, is exclu-
sively occupied by volcanic and tertiary deposits, through which a
few islets or outliers of Apennine limestone, such as Mount Soracte,
rear their heads as you approach to Rome. But to the south of
Narni and in the Sabine mountains east of Rome, where the lime-
stones are manifestly cretaceous, we again meet with overlying num-
mulitic rocks and macigno,—not indeed on the external or western
face of the chain at Tivoli and Palestrina, but between those places
and Subiaco. The chief limestone of this tract, even when in that
state of marble called ‘‘ Occhio di Pavone,’ has been found to con-
tain hippurites. In traversing the chain from Palestrina to Subiaco,
I perceived, that whilst it presented a broken and often abrupt
escarpment to the plain of the Campagna, the hippurite limestone, when
followed across its strike or to the east, soon folds over in rapid undula-
tions accompanied by great fractures, and at Olévano is surmounted
by an impure sandy limestone charged with nummulites and pectens.
The whole calcareous series then plunges under troughs filled with
macigno sandstone, precisely similar to that of Tuscany, and which,
though weathering externally to rusty yellow and dirty ash-colour, is,
when quarried into, the same dull bluish grey psammite with minute
grains of black schist, so well known as the building-stone of Florence.
These macigno beds are occasionally vertical, and often so broken and
squeezed up between the older limestones (with a strike from 8.S.E.
to N.N.W.), that persons unaccustomed to their relations elsewhere
might well be induced to suppose that they underlie the older rocks.
At Rojati, however, which stands on a fine thick-bedded macigno with
alternating layers of shale, that dips away at a slight angle (this place
being near the centre of a trough), the rock passes downwards into
the same sandy and siliceous limestones which form the summit of
the picturesque cretaceous hill of Olévano. Again, at Subiaco
(see fig. 35), the church of Maria della Valle is built on an inclined,
nodular, grey macigno with soft partings, which, covered by a mass
of unconformable and horizontal tertiary conglomerate, passes down-

* An accident which injured one of my legs prevented my exploring the hilly

tracts east of Perugia and Assisi. But I could hear of no nummulites in the en-
virons, and the Museum of the University does not contain them.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 281

wards into the upper beds of the great cretaceous limestones, of which
all the surrounding mountains are composed, and in the grottoes of
which St. Benedict established his famous monastery. Here, as at
Olévano, the beds between the solid hippuritic limestones and the
macigno are sandy or siliceous, dirty or yellowish white limestones,

Fig. 35.
Sabine Hills.

Subiaco.

“+
Lee

CAAL A

Macigno. & re

Hippurite limestone.
Pliocene or Post-pliocene. ~%. Conglomerate.

g. Macigno. f
Eocene. {f Nummaulite limestone.

Cretaceous. d. Hippurite limestone.

with nummulites and pectens. Near Agosta, lower down the valley
of the Teverone, there are extensive quarries of this macigno where the
rock, being deeply cut into, is blue-hearted, of concretionary forms
on the great scale, and quite undistinguishable from the ‘ Pietra
forte’? of Florence. The strata dip slightly across the valley and
appear to plunge under the massive limestone cliffs of Agosta, but
this appearance is fallacious, and is simply the result of one of the
numerous faults of the chain ; for the macigno is inclined at 10° or 12°
only, and the secondary limestone plunges 45°. It is, I apprehend,
from such examples that the supposed intercalation of the overlying
macigno with the secondary limestones has been supposed to exist.
Judging from the section and brief description by MM. Alessan-
dro Spada and Orsini* of the rocks between the watershed of the
Apennines and the Adriatic in the parallel of Ascoli and the Tronto
river, it would appear that there is there a much greater simplicity
of structure than on the western side of the axis. This symmetrical
disposition may be accounted for by the absence of those eruptive and
voleanic rocks which are so abundant along the western slopes of the
chain. Although I was prevented from visiting the Adriatic shores
by the political state of the country, I cannot refer to the sections of
Spada and Orsini without suggesting that one essential phenomenon
of that region is in accordance with my own views. Their diagram
shows a concordant passage from the limestone called ‘“ majolica”
mto overlying limestone with nummulites, and thence upwards
through grey impure limestones with fucoids into macigno. Now
whether this majolica be, as I suspect, neocomian and not jurassic
(as they believe), and whether there be or be not any representative
of the white chalk, we have clearly an ascending succession, in which
the macigno is the highest mass, and is overlaid only by tertiary mio-
cene strata with gypsum. The question after all is, what are the
fossils which are there associated with true nummulites? and from

* Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. 2 Ser. t. ii. p. 408, 1845.

282 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [| Dec. 13,

all I could learn, they are there similar to those which have been de-
scribed from other places. In other words, they are not cretaceous,
but form the peculiar group in question. In this case, therefore, we
have simply the well-known Alpine order of nummulite limestones,
sometimes overlying neocomian and sometimes resting upon upper
cretaceous rocks, and surmounted by vast masses of “ flysch,” 7. e. of
impure limestone with fucoids, sandstones, &e. There is, however,
in this section a feature which wholly disagrees with the physical re-
lations of Northern Italy. The gypseous molasse or miocene of the
authors is placed as an unconformable mass between the macigno and
the lower subapennine, and equally unconformable to both. I confess
that this feature is unknown to me in any part of Italy, and I believe
it to be merely local, because the authors themselves state that at
Ascoli the same formations are conformable. In regard to the mio-
cene and pliocene, the examples of a gradual transition from one to
the other are indeed without number, as will presently be noted.

It is unnecessary to multiply examples of the superposition of the
chief mass of the macigno to the youngest secondary rocks or hippu-
ritic limestone of Central Italy. In following the upper road from
Rome to Naples, any one may rapidly satisfy himself on this point at
Ferentino, on the north side of which masses of inclined macigno with
finely laminated sandy marls, dip away from a boss of the scaglia
limestone and pass under all the younger and unconformable tertiary
series of the Campagna. The masses of macigno on the south-western
face of the great promontory of Sorrento, which forms the south side
of the bay of Naples, also overlie cretaceous or hippuritic limestones,
and the same order is seen in many tracts,

It is probable that the best fossiliferous exposition in the kingdom
of Naples of both the upper cretaceous and the true nummulitic
eocene, is exhibited in the grand Adriatic promontory of Monte Gar-
gano, which it was my full intention to have visited, had the recent
political troubles not prevented me. - The late Professor Pilla is per-
haps the only geologist who has examined and described it. But un-
luckily at the period of his visit he was not so well versed in strati-
graphical geology and organic remains as he subsequently became,
and I know from himself that he imtended to revise his sections of
that great headland. In default of a personal visit I was gratified to
find, in the Royal Mineralogical Museum of Naples, so ably directed
by Professor Scacchi*, a very illustrative series of the rocks and
fossils of this Monte Gargano, the inspection of which left no doubt
whatever in my mind, that the order of succession is there the same
as that which I have witnessed in the Venetian Alps, the Papal
States and other districts. The oldest rock is evidently the com-
pact and hard white limestone with flints, and containing five species
of Hippurites, besides Ammonites and Nerineeze. Then follow other
beds, in which it would be presumptuous in me to attempt to decide
the exact order. One of these is a red breccia; another is a peculiar

- * Professor Scacchi himself intends soon to visit Monte Gargano and publish a
detailed description of the order of the strata and their fossils. A full account of
this promontory will form a beautiful monograph.

1848.]| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 283

coralline, cavernous limestone with Pectens, Volutes, Olivee, Dentalia,
a large Fusus, Terebellum, &c.; a third contains Balani and Tur-
binoliez. Now, the white limestone associated with this group is
lithologically a true ‘ calcaire grossier’’ loaded with nummulites.
Among these nummulites, whatever may be their names, M. d’ Ar-
chiac, who has examined them at my request, has declared that the
four species to which he assigns them, all exist in the Lower Pyrenees.
One of these, the N. /evigata, Lamk., occurs also in the London
clay at Bracklesham, in the lower tertiary of Belgium, and in the
Vicentine ; and another is the form so very common in the Alps,
whether it be termed N. planospira (Boub.) or N. assilinoides
(Riit.) ; whilst a fourth is the N. granulosa (D’Arch.) of Dax
and the Pyrenees. These coincidences leave no dgubt in my mind
as to the ageof the beds. I may also add, that in no one of the nu-
merous rock-specimens I examined, is there an example of a nummu-
lite occurring in the same fragment as the hippurites ; and in fact there
is also a clear lithological distinction between the hard, compact and
flinty, white hippurite limestone, and the equally white but coarse
granular limestone with nummulites.

The collections of Monte Gargano present, indeed, other fossils of a
much younger series in a calcareous tuff, and as among these are the
Pecten latissimus, Panopea Faujasi, and other well-known sub-
apennine shells, the existence there of pliocene deposits, as along other
parts of the shores of the Mediterranean and Adriatic, is clearly
marked.

On the Miocene, Pliocene, and Younger Tertiary Deposits of Italy.

The existence of deposits of miocene and pliocene age in the north
of Italy has been long established ; but geologists have not sufficiently
‘directed attention to those sections in the peninsula, which best in-
dicate transitions from the one group to the other. In the first place,
therefore, I will endeavour to show, how in the north of Italy the
oldest miocene, if not partly eocene, gradually inosculates and passes
up into the overlying subapennine strata*. I have indeed already
to some extent illustrated this pomt in the sections of Bassano and
Asolo (p.223), and have said that M.de Zignowill soon have collected,
identified, and published the fossils which there lie in strata inter-
calated between the nummulitic eocene beneath and the subapen-
nine marls and conglomerates above them.

The region to which I first invite attention, as exhibiting an unin-
terrupted succession from the top of the eocene or bottom of the
miocene, through a fuli development of the latter up into the most
copious accumulations of subapennine or pliocene, is that group of
hills called the Monferrato, which ranges itself in a horse-shoe form,
as defined by the course of the Po, between Turin on the west and
Alexandria on the east. In the great plain occupied by coarse drift

_ * The reader who may desire to see the extent to which my observations and
conclusions agree with those of other authors, may consult Pareto’s Liguria Ma-
rittima, Pilla’s Geologia, Philippi, &c.

284 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

which lies between the northern flexure of the Po, and the wall of
crystalline and eruptive rocks which form the edge of the Alps, a great
group of true cretaceous and older eocene formations may have for-
merly existed ; but of these no traces now remain. The oldest rocks
visible are those which, on the right bank of the Po, range from
Gassino by Casal Borgone and the hills south of Verrua ; in other
words, they form the northern limit or escarpment of the Monferrato.
Amid the sandy marls which there abound, certain peculiar and
mottled limestones protrude, either in vertical or highly inclined
positions, which, because they seem at one spot to have a certain di-
rection and contain nummulites, have been described as cretaceous
by M. Collegno* and by M. Sismonda. Since those authors wrote,
the Marquis Pareto has in my opinion taken the true view of the
subject, and has considered these beds to be tertiary and intimately
associated with the miocene of the Superga.

Accompanied by the two excellent paleeontologists of Turin, Dr. E.
Sismonda and M. Bellardi, I made a transverse section of the ridge to
the east of the ground which I had examined twenty years ago in com-
pany with Sir C. Lyell; and a simple description of this section will
I hope set at rest the question as to the age of the lowest visible
rocks in these ridges, and also indicate a gradual transition upwards
into younger tertiary strata. In ascending the hill-side from the
banks of the Po near Gassino, I found that micaceous marls dip
south, and afterwards become vertical and graduate into calcareous
sandstone locally called molasse. After passing over a slope obscured
by vegetation, other sandy marls are seen to reappear at a higher
level in vertical positions, and enclosing an equally vertical band of
mottled, small concretionary limestone with nummulites (g of fig. 36),
which strikes N.N.E. and 8.S.W. A short interval is occupied by
strata of green-grained marlstone with some imperfect minute plants,
when there follows another and much stronger band of about 12 feet
thick of similarly mottled, subconcretionary, blue-hearted limestone,
which, striking from W.S.W. to E.N.E., plunges to the 8.S.E. at an
angle of from 50° to 60°, and is covered by impure limestone or cal-
careous sandstone. Ascending over a few undulating mounds of marl
and sandstone (the site of old quarries where the limestone has been
extracted), the same band of mottled limestone is met with, dipping
at a high angle to the north.

To decide upon the age of this limestone (g of fig. 36), as M. Col-
legno has attempted to do, by noting the direction of any one of its
broken masses, seems to me futile. Suffice it to say, that the chief

* Mémoires de la Soc. Géol. de Fr. vol. ii. p. 203. M. Collegno has also coloured
in as cretaceous the whole of the eastern end of the Monferrato from Verrua to
Casale, for which he has no better authority than the occasional reappearance of
the Gassino limestones, sometimes with, sometimes without nummulites. I regret
much that I had not time to explore the eastern part of the Monferrato, in which
M. Collegno lays down a much broader mass of what he calls cretaceous ; for
judging from all other analogies, and even from what he writes himself, I have
little doubt that downward passages there exist into the true eocene or equivalent
of the flysch of the Alps ; such rocks being, in fact, a part of the cretaceous group
of that author.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 285

Fig. 36.
Castel Montalto.

Gassino. Bardassan.

N.N.W,

; mass of marls and sands strikes W.S.W. and E.N.E.,
and that such is also the strike of the principal mass
of the mottled nummulitic limestone, and of the grand
masses of conglomerate, sand and marl which consti-
tute the higher and highly inclined miocene strata in
the ridges of the Superga and Monferrato.

The nummulitic limestone (g*) may be considered
as an irregular axis, which throws off partially a few
younger and broken beds to the north, that form the
gypseous and other hillocks on the banks of the Po,
and pass under the pliocene strata of Verrua and
Crescentino ; whilst it is manifestly succeeded on the
south by the whole ascending series of the Superga
and Monferrato.

It is also equally clear that this nummulitic rock

is truly tertiary, if we judge from the other fossils
associated with the Nummulina placentula (Desh.).
Thus, the terebratula on which Collegno reckoned as a
proof of cretaceous age, is now known to be a common
species of the older tertiary of thistract. In this very
limestone we found the great oyster, O. gigantea,
fragments of pectens and corals, and above all the
tooth of a fish (Oxyrhina Desori, Ag.), all well-known
tertiary forms. Again, in the sandy beds, absolutely
resting on those dislocated limestones, the Pecten Bur-
digalensis with Pectuneuli and Turbinolize occur, and
there is therefore no sort of doubt of the age of the
rock.
» I was much struck with the resemblance of the
yy mottled, concretionary and coralline limestone of Gas-
_ sino to the rock of Castel-Cucco between Asolo and
Possagno, which is also the uppermost limit of num-
mulites (p. 222). I therefore consider, that in con-
necting the nummulitic base of the section of the
Superga with a well-known band in the clear succession
on the flanks of the Venetian Alps, I establish a con-
necting link between the eocene deposits of the Alps
and the miocene of northern Italy.

In traversing southwards to Bardassan, across the
ridges of conglomerate, both coarse and fine (4), which
; occupy the chief summits, and separate the valleys
excavated in the softer marl or sandy shale, I had
little to observe that is not already known ; for these
elevations and depressions are the direct eastern pro-
longations of the miocene of the Superga; but in
descending from the hills to the south by Castel Mont-
alto to the plain of Chieri, the development of the
strata and the gradual change from the miocene into
8 the pliocene type is too remarkable not to be specially
: noticed. On the south slope of the hill of Bardassan
jl VOL. V.—PART I. x

Pliocene

locene.

Mixture of miocene and pl

DBR WIS SSNS SO OS SEES SS ~—Seaen
Jj

—INNS
KS

\\ SX N
Miocene

%
ir aL y/ %

g
Nummulites

River Po.

286 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [| Dec. 13,

the coarse conglomerates have entirely disappeared, and are suc-
ceeded by sand, marlstone and marl (2), in which are forms of
Cerithium, Cardium, Vermetus, &c. These are followed by sand-
stone (7) and impure calcareous concretions, which as you approach
Castel Montalto alternate with finely lamimated shale. In all this
space (not less than two English miles), the strata dip at 20° to 25°
to the south, and certain subapennine shells occur, such as the
Lucina Astensis (a well-known species of the hills of Asti, which
we found near Bardassan), associated with the Cleodora obtusa and
Ringicula Bonelli of the Superga; thus already proving an inter-
mixture of species which authors may cite, some as miocene, others
as pliocene.

Pursuing the ascending section, and leaving behind all the true
miocene sandstones, we come into marls, shale and marlstone, often
white, which are overlaid by other marls descending under the yellow
sands of Chieri. These last-mentioned marls (4), which are usually
considered subapennine and are covered by sands (/), charged with
the youngest known shells of the group, contain the following species,
as named for me by Dr. E. Sismonda :—

Turbinolia duodecimcostata, Goldf, P. Cancellaria varicosa, Br., P.M.

Terebratula DeBuchi, Mich., M.

Ostrea cochlear, Poli, P.M.

Pecten cristatus, Bronn, P.

Nucula concava, Bronn.
interrupta, Nyst.
Nicobarica, Lh., P.
placentina, Z%., P.M.
rostrata, Lk.

Limopsis aurita, Sassi, M.

Arca diluvii, Zk., M.

Lucina Astensis, Bon., M.
spuria, Desh., P.M.
transversa, Bronn, P.

Venus alternans, E. Sismd., P.

Erycina complanata, Réel.

Bornia seminulum, Phil.

Dentalium circinnatum, Sow.
coarctatum, Lk., M.
fossile, Linn., M.
inzequale, Bronn, M.
pseudo-entalis, L%., M.
rectum, Linn., M.
sexangulare, Lk., M.

Cerithium vulgatum, Brug., P.M.

inflatum, Bedl., M.

Nassa costulata, Ren., M.
semistriata, Br., P.
serrata, Br., P.

Buccinum polygonum, Br., P.M.

Cassidaria echinophora, Lf., P.M.

Cassis texta, Bronn, P.M.
variabilis, Bell. et Mich., M.
Cancellaria Bonelli, Bedl., M.
calcarata, Br.
lyrata, Br., M.
mitreformis, Br.

Pleurotoma brevirostris, M.
cataphracta, Br., M.
Coquandi, Bell.
denticula, Bast., M.
dimidiata, Br., M.
intermedia, Bronn, M.
intorta, Br., M.
monilis, Br., M.
obtusangula, Br., M.
rotata,. Br., P.M:
turricula, Br., P.M.
turritelloides, Bell.
Rochette, Bell.

Raphitoma harpula, Bell., M.
plicatella, Bell., M.
vulpecula, Bel/., P.M.
columne, Bell.
textilis, Bell., M.

- Ficula ficoides, £. Sismd.
_ Fusus aduncus, Bronn, M.

angulosus, F. Sismd., P.M.
crispus, Bors., M.

‘, lamellosus, Bors., M.

7 longiroster, Br., M.
mitreformis, Br., M.

- Triton Apenninicum, Bronn, M.

‘Ranella marginata, Sow., P.M.
reticularis, £. Sismd., P.M.
Murex craticulatus, Br., P.
' funiculosus, Bors.
fusulus, Br., M.
Lassaignei, Grat., M.
polymorphus, Br., P.M.
spinicosta, Bronn, M.
Typhis fistulosus, Mich., M.
Columbella nassoides, Bell., M.

“I

1848.| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 28

Columbella thiara, Bon., M. Nerita proteus, Bon., M.
turgidula, Bell., M. Natica helicina, Br., P.M.

Mitra scrobiculata, Br., M. pseudo-epiglottina, Z. Sismd., M.
pyramidella, Br. millepunctata, L., P.M.

Conus antediluvianus, Brug., M. Ringicula Bonelli, Desh., M.
bisuleatus, Bell. et Mich., P. buccinea, Desh., M.
Brocchii, Bronn, P. striata, H. Sismd., M.

Chenopus pes-graculi, Phil., M. Turritella subangulata, Br., M.

Turbo fimbriatus, Bronn, M. varicosa, Br.

Solarium moniliferum, Bronn. Bulla uniplicata, Bell., M.

Phorus testigerus, Bronn, M.

As the ascending series, in which intermixture takes place, is of
considerable dimensions, and as even close to Chieri we still meet with
a great number of Superga species, it is evident that a considerable
thickness of beds may be classed either as miocene or pliocene,
according to the forms which the observer may happen to meet with.
Amidst the species collected from these blue marls, which are geolo-
gically subapennine (Castelnuovo and Pino), those marked M. exist
in the miocene of the Superga; those marked P. are exclusively plio-
cene ; and the individuals with the affix P.M. are common to the
Superga and the true pliocene. Out of the 95 species, then, found
in this one zone of blue marl, 16 are peculiar to it, 52 are known in
the miocene, 10 in the pliocene, and 17 are common to the two for-
mations.

The citation of this important fact teaches us, that the more closely
the artificial limits of what geologists call formations are worked out,
the more impossible will it be to draw fixed lmes between natural
groups of strata which, like these, have succeeded to each other
without physical disturbances. At all events, wherever the different
members of the same system so graduate into each other strati-
graphically, mineralogically, and zoologically, the tints of colour by
which they are characterized in a map should also be blended along
such mixed frontiers.

In passing from the sandy beds in question by Castel Montalto to
Pino and Chieri (the angle of inclination diminishing as we recede
from the higher ground), the masses of which we have been speaking
are conformably overlaid by a great thickness of yellow sands with
some inosculating marls, which constitute the true subapennine beds
of the Astesan, so well known to geologists through the works of
Brocchi and others. In these uppermost beds nearly all traces of
anything purely miocene have disappeared, and we are immersed in
that same type of shells with Panopea Fawasi, &c. which at St.
Gallen and other places characterizes the marine molasse of Switzer-
land (see ante, p. 230)*. I specially, then, caution geologists against
employing that term in a sense which is to convey an idea of age, for
as used at Turin the word molasse is exclusively applied to the strata
of true miocene age, whilst in Switzerland the greater part of it is
pliocene. Again, the pliocene deposits in Switzerland are hard sand-

* This miocene is laid down in Collegno’s map, but in my opinion, as above
explained, a great error prevails in that part of it which represents the eastern
portion of the Monferrato as cretaceous.

288 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [Dec. 13,

stones and conglomerates, whilst in Italy they are soft marls and
sands.

The true pliocene deposits of Asti occupy a broad trough, watered
by the rivers Tanaro and Bormida, on the southern side of which rise
up those micaceous and often greenish sandstones of miocene age,
so largely displayed in Piedmont. On a former occasion (1828) I
traversed a large breadth of these between Savona and Acqui in the
company of Sir C. Lyell, and in my last visit I examined them m
travelling to Genoa from Alexandria. Between Gavi and Arquata,
they have all the characters of a regenerated macigno, and at Ser-
ravalle and Ligurosa rise up from beneath the subapennine marls
and sands in highly melined sandstones and marls, underlaid by
powerful bands of conglomerate that dip 40° to the N. or N.N.W.
In this manner we reach the opposite or southern side of the
great tertiary trough of the Astesan, and are again in the equiva-
lents of the Superga conglomerate. I could discover, however, no
course of underlying nummulitic limestone similar to that of Gassino.
At the same time it must be stated, that the system of macigno and
alberese, which is considered by Pareto to be the equivalent of the
nummulitic group (?), succeeds near Ronco, dipping at a high angle
under the whole of the conglomerate and miocene series of Piedmont.
I cannot positively say whether these underlying beds of flagstone and
macigno on the south side of the basin are conformable to the over-
lying miocene series, but in a rapid survey they seemed to me to be
so, and also to be in a much less crystallized and altered state than
in the environs of Genoa.

The miocene of Piedmont containsthe coal deposits of Caddibuona*,
so long known and so often described, on account of the remains of
the Anthracotheria associated with lacustrine and fluviatile fossils ;
and as we travel down into the peninsula similar examples are met
with. The interstratification of freshwater or estuary beds (containing
Melanopsis, Melania and Neritina) with marine tertiary strata, has
been pointed out as occurring in several parts of the north of Italy by
the Marquis Paretot. Near Siena, as will presently appear, such
beds manifestly inosculate with the upper strata of subapennine age ;
whilst in the environs of Tortona they seem (judging from that
author’s section and description) to lie low in what must be defined
as the true pliocene formation. The fact, however, is, that as some
of the acknowledged miocene strata of the peninsula are of ter-
restrial and freshwater character (Caddibuona, Monte Massi and
Monte Bamboli in the Maremma, &c.), there can be little doubt,
that the more observation is extended, the more evidences shall we
find of such local freshwater intercalations throughout the tertiary
series in many parts of Italy.

* J visited this place with Sir C. Lyell, in passing from Savona to Acqui. Its
powerful conglomerates are possibly of the same age as those of the Superga (see
Lyell’s Principles of Geology, lst edition, vol. iii. p. 221, woodcut No. 55, and
4th ed. id. vol. iv. p. 152).

+ See the Marquis Pareto’s memoir, read at the Scientific Congress of Turin,

1844, entitled ‘“‘ Sopra alcune alternative di strati marini e fluviatili nei terreni di
sedimento superiore dei Colli Subapennini.”

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 289

At Canniparola, on the west side of the valley of the Magra near
Sarzana, coal supposed to be of miocene age has been worked in several
seams, and is associated with many plants of dicotyledonous structure.
These works are now abandoned. On exploring the natural out-
crop of the mineral, on the sides of the torrent called La Girona, I
perceived that the coal seams subordinate to shale with plants, re-
posed, in highly inclined strata dipping to the west, on shale with
calcareous nodules. The latter passes downwards into a soft macigno
or finely micaceous sandstone, and from that into dark-coloured and
party-coloured schists and marlstone with conchoidal fracture. Below
these there appeared to me to be a transition into true hard and older
macigno with white veins, the inclination increasing to verticality with
the slope of the mountain sides. These beds being partially dislo-
cated, strike both a little to the west and a little to the east of north ;
but the main direction is north and by west, and south and by east,
or parallel to the chief ridge of the Apuan Alps, from which they
are separated by a vast mass of underlymg macigno. On the other
hand, the coal strata are surmounted by ochreous sandy conglome-
rates, which being further removed from the axis of elevation, dip
down to the vale of the Massa at a less inclination, and are lost in
alluvial accumulations.

A traverse of the Apennines from Bologna to Florence exhibits, on
the flanks of the chain near the former city, blue marl and sand of sub-
apemnine age, reposing on micaceous sandstone.

These masses, thus exposed in a low anticlinal on this outer parallel,
are better seen on the high road as you pass by Pianura to Lojano,
arranged in an elevated trough, near the north-western side of which
courses of lignite (1) are surmounted by nodular strata and shelly
blue marls, and these by the sands and white marls on which Pianura
stands. Above these come other sandy marls with large nodules
of dark grey, micaceous, ferruginous marlstone, in which I found
many Cardia, Pectunculi, Nuculz and Venericardize. These shelly
beds, overlaid by a vast thickness of blue marl (2), and covered by
yellow and white conglomerates and sands (3), are clearly the sub-
apennine group of Brocchi, which, after dipping for a certain distance
to the west, are bent up ina trough. From the summits of the con-
glomerate hills near Lojano, the dip being reversed, or to the N.E.,
the subapennine group is supported on the other side of the basin by
nodular strata, together with a system of soft micaceous sandstones and
pebbly conglomerates of considerable thickness, which alternate with
certain shaly marls and greenish sandstones. These lower, undulating
sandstones and conglomerates with marls, &c. most clearly represent
the Superga series (A of fig. 36), and are of miocene age. In the con-
struction, therefore, of a detailed geological map, this portion of the
east flank of the Apennines might be shown to exhibit two axes or
undulations of miocenic sandstones and conglomerates, troughing be-
tween them a mass of true subapennine beds, and again throwing off
the upper beds towards the low country. At Lojano, the second post
from Bologna (as it appeared to me in a rapid survey), the miocene
conglomerates are cut off by a longitudinal fault from the macigno,

290 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. { Dec. 13,

which succeeds to the west : for the latter is only
slightly inclined to the east, and is a hard, mica-
ceous, true macigno sandstone, which, flaglike
near the surface, passes down into thick beds.
This rock, receiving its peculiar tint from nu-
merous minute fragments of black schist, is un-
distinguishable from the macigno alpin or flysch
of the Alps. It occurs, in fact, on the western
edge of those great undulations of alberese, and
other limestones, which, perforated by serpentine
at Monte Berici and Sasso di Castro near Covi-
gliajo, form the chief mass of that group already
spoken of, whose geological equivalents in the
absence of fossils it is so difficult to define.

Thus, whilst the Bolognese Apennines expose
an intimate connection between the miocene and
pliocene groups, they afford, as far as I saw, no
indications of an unbroken succession from the
macigno to the overlying miocene. It appeared,
indeed, to me, that in descending towards Flo-
rence by Campo Santo and Crespiano, a conglo-
merate (probably miocene) was there also adherent
to the sides of the mountains of older date; but
in that portion of Tuscany the union between the
miocene and pliocene, as above described, is
wanting.

The picturesque hills around Lari, on the south
side of the Arno near Pisa, which I visited with
Professor Pilla, are for the most part composed
of subapennine blue marl, loaded with shells and
covered by yellow sands ; the Ostrea hippopus,
Pecten laticostatus, and large Panopea Fawast
lymg about in abundance. The villages stand
on insulated points of the overlying sands or
sandy marls, the remnants of former great de-
nudations, all the strata being horizontal. These
elevated sandy and loamy points are rich and
fertile, whilst the denuded argillaceous marls of
the valleys are sterile ;—physical features which
so prevail in vast tertiary tracts throughout Italy,
that the agricultural characters alone are there
sufficient to indicate the age of the strata. Near
Casciano, however, to the south of Lari, as well
seen in the quarries of S Frediana, other and
lower sandstones of harder character, rise out
abruptly from beneath the subapennine cover,
and form broken and undulating domes. These
beds contain highly ornamented small Echini,
small Ostreee, and other shells, together with
fishes’ teeth and palates, unknown in the overlying

S.S.W.

Apennines.

Macigno sandstone and
limestone (Alberese).

} Subapennine or Pliocene.

Fig. 37.

3. Yellow sands and conglomerates.
1. Miocene conglomerates and sands, &c.

2. Blue marl.

N.N.E
Plain south
of Bologna.

a oe ———

ee a SO

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 291

formation. The strata are specially characterized by as oft, cal-
careous yellow sandstone, arranged in large concretionary shapes,
which here and there passes into limestone and cale grit, but in
many parts disintegrates into fine yellow sand, in which caverns have
been excavated. It is this rock which has afforded the numerous
Lenticulites and other foraminifera described in the works of Sol-
dani and Targioni-Tozzetti. They are accompanied by a very minute
Terebratula, to which M. Pilla particularly directed my attention,
and which at first sight had much the aspect of forms known only
in paleeozoic rocks*.

There can be no doubt that the foraminiferous rock of S* Frediana
is of miocene age, but as it has here been brought up through the
subapennine strata, along one of those lines of fracture so common
in the adjacent region of the Maremma, we naturally miss the links,
stratigraphical and zoological, which connect the miocene and plio-
cene in the Monferrato of Turin and in the Lower Apennines of
Bologna.

Further southward, and in entering the Tuscan Maremma, rocks
of this miocene age re-occur, overlying the ridges of alberese and
macigno which there rise up, and in one place, Botro di Laspa near
Pomaja, 7. e. in the direct road from Pisa to the Maremma, con-
tain the same small Terebratula as at Frediana. I examined the
flanks of the lateral valley through which that route passes, and
where the miocene contains large masses of gypsum. ‘Traversing the
hills from Castellini to the copper-mines of Monte Catini+, I thence
made an excursion into the heart of the Tuscan Maremma to explore
the relations of the coal beds of that tract which have been so largely
opened out, and would, doubtless, have been rendered useful, had not
revolutionary agitation checked all public and private expenditure.

* See “ Osservazioni sopra 1’ eta della pietra lenticolare di Casciano nelle colline
Pisane, di Leopoldo Pilla.” Jn this notice, published after a joint examination
which I made with him, Professor Pilla corrects a first sketch, in which he had
considered this lenticular limestone as of subapennine age, and shows that at S**
Frediana and Parlascio it constituted islets or reefs of rock of miocene age in a
sea of subapennine age. The corals, Lenticulites, Echini, Terebratule, &c., are
supposed to be miocenic, whilst certain Ostreze and Pectens are presumed to be
pliocenic. It does not, however, appear that the latter are identical with known
subapennine species. My lamented friend Professor. Pilla had formed an opinion
respecting the usual horizontality of subapennine strata, as contrasted with the
inclination of all beds of miuvcenic age, in which I cannot participate. In this
case I believe that the oldest tertiary of this part of the basin has been heaved
up through the overlying strata on lines from north to south; and I cannot agree
with him, that these older masses ever formed ancient islets, around which the
vounger were accumulated. On the contrary, J am convinced that here, as in
the Monferrato, the whole submarine tertiary series was originally deposited suc-
cessively and without a break.

t At Monte Catini, where I was hospitably received by Mr. Sloane, the intelli-
gent proprietor of the mines, and in other places, I examined the serpentine,
gabbro, and other eruptive or unstratified rocks, into the consideration of which I
shall not enter in this memoir, the object of which points exclusively to sedimen-
tary succession. The chief phenomena have been already described by Mr. W.
Hamilton, Journ. Geol. Soc. London, vol. i. p. 291, and have been copiously dwelt
upon by Savi, Pilla, and others.

292 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [ Dec. 13,

Micaceous sandstone, which I believe to be of miocene age, with traces
of stems of plants, appears in the conical hillock near Monte Catini ;
but the strata are there so dislocated in their relations to serpentine
and gabbro, that no distinct order is visible. It was the belief of
Professor Pilla, that much of the argillaceous and sterile marl of the
deep denudations around Volterra, particularly the lower portion
which contains large masses of gypsum and salt-springs, is also of
miocene age. Of this there are no fossil proofs of which I could
hear. It is, however, certain that the thick unfossiliferous marls are
surmounted by others, and finally by yellow sands and sandstone, the
** panchina,”’? on which stands the noble ancient city of Volterra.
These are true subapennine beds with many fossils ; the tombs of the
Necropolis being excavated in the sandy ‘‘ panchina.”’

Pomerancia, to the south of Volterra, is placed on a high plateau
of shelly tuff, which probably pertains to the upper portion of the
pliocene, but the mountains to the east and south are macigno and
alberese (possibly of cretaceous age ?), with nuclei of still older rocks.
Not now adverting to these rocks, or to the hot springs issuing
through them which afford the boracie acid*, I will briefly notice
the coal deposits of Monte Bamboli and Monte Massi, which lie still
further to the southward. These deposits are described by Savi and
Pilla, and the coal has been analysed by Matteucci. For my own
part, I consider them to be of about the same age (miocene) as the
coal of Caddibuona in Piedmont and of Fuveau near Toulon in the
south of Francet+.

At Monte Bamboli the coal-seams, varying from eighteen inches
to five feet and inclined about 30°, rest on earthy and broken schists,
which are so nearly in contact with the surface of the so-called
alberese of this tract, that I could scarcely divest myself of the idea
that the one had succeeded conformably to the other; but although
the upper schists or galestri of the alberese appeared to graduate into
the gritty schist and the latter into the coal-seams, the whole dip-
ping to the W.S.W., I was subsequently led to believe, from the
sections at Monte Massi, that the apparent conformity is accidental.
The coal, of which there are here two courses, is interlaced with a
band of an earthy, shelly, freshwater limestone with mytili; and
the surface of the coal-seams, in which plants and shells occur in
a schist or ‘ bat,’’ graduates up into a considerable thickness of a
thin, flat-bedded, sandy, impure limestone, which is followed by an
indurated clay rock, and the latter by a coarse conglomerate. Whilst
the coal-beds dip 30° S.W. in the shaft west of the works, they may
be observed in the side of the torrent north of the engine to roll over
to the N.N.E., and in one spot they dip 70°. In these dislocations

* In reference to the various, intensely hot springs which afford the boracic salt,
I will only here say, that they seemed to me to issue from fissures having a direc-
tion from north and by west to south and by east, and that these parallel linear
outbursts thus seem fairly to represent the last remnants of that grand subter-
ranean evolution of heat which in former ages has so affected all this range of the
Maremma.

+ See description of this coal-field by Sir C. Lyell and myself, Proc. Geol. See.
vol. i. p. 150.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 293

the coal seems to follow all the accidents and undulations of the sub-
jacent, so-called alberese, limestone on which it rests. Besides mytili
and plants, the tooth of a pachyderm has been found in this tertiary
coal, which M. Pomel has named Lotherium.

The other accumulations of this age occupy broken troughs through-
out the Tuscan and Roman Maremma, and those which I visited,
lie to the south of the rocky village of Monte Massi, where three
shafts have been opened and where the coal is much developed (see
fig. 38). Eruptive rocks, chiefly of serpentinous character, occupy
the summits, and on one of these the grotesque village of Monte

Monte Fig. 38,

N.N.E. Massi. S.S.W.

MAL Sene meee, SSSSS“SSE&EES| SNSESEES
s d? Debris.
s. Serpentine breccia. 3. Shale and coal.
d.? Alberese. Miocene. < 2. Mytilus limestone and coal.
1. Miocene conglomerates and coal.

Massi is perched. The rock is here a serpentinous breccia, classed
as “ euphotide,”’ which throws off vertical patches of alberese (d) on
all sides. But instead of the short mterval which occurs at Monte
Bamboli between the surface of the alberese and the coal, we have,
first, a conglomerate of alberese, secondly, a thick mass of grey strati-
fied shale or clay, and thirdly, grits and small pebbly conglomerates,
with fragments of serpentine (ophiolite grit of Savi), on the last-men-
tioned of which the lowest bed of coal reposes. This succession is
obvious in descending from Monte Massi to the banks of the brook
on the 8.S.W., in which the natural outcrop of the lower coal is seen.
Even this lower coal (1) is not considered the same as that of Monte
Bamboli; for after ascending through shale and grit, &c., another
seam occurs which is interlaced with and surmounted by the very same
mytilus limestone as that of Monte Bamboli (2), the whole dipping
away at about 25° to S.S.W. Then follows a considerable breadth of
argillaceous shale, the angle of inclination decreasing as the beds
advance into that broad valley which terminates in the mouth of the
Ombrone at Grossetto. Subordinate to this shale and claystone is
the third or great seam of coal (3), which is of considerable thick-
ness, and into which I descended by the new pits. Many portions
of the coal, whether judging from the eye or from its chemical ana-
lysis, differ little from the inferior but useful qualities of British com-
bustible of the paleeozoic age. Unluckily, however, both Monte Massi
and Monte Bamboli are at some distance from the seaboard, and no
rail- or tram-roads having been yet constructed, all the expenditure
of the miners will be thrown away if public assistance be not given
to them*. The statistical data of these coal tracts, the great heat
experienced in the deep shafts at Monte Massi, the gases (not inflam-

* I was accompanied to these tracts by M. Caillaud, the principal director of the
Leghorn Coal Company, and by M. Petiot, the intelligent French engineer who has
directed the works.

294 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 13,

mable) therein, and other points of great interest, must now be passed
over.

If a geologist examined the district of Monte Bamboli only, he
might form a conclusion that the beds with coal at once succeeded to
the alberese limestone; but at Monte Massi he sees that one under-
lymg conglomerate is formed out of that rock, and that another, de-
rived from the serpentines associated with it, forms the absolute base
and support of this capacious and very remarkable coal tract, which
although referred to the miocene age and clearly subjacent to all the
lower subapennine, has more the aspect of an old coal-field than any
other of similar date with which I am acquainted*.

I do not pretend to be able satisfactorily to define the exact limits
and relations of all the members of the tertiary accumulations of dif-
ferent parts of Central Italy. In the southern part of Tuscany it was,
however, clear to me, in a traverse which I made from Volterra to
Siena, and also by examining the deep railroad cuttings to the north
of the latter city, that the whole of the pliocene or subapennine series
properly so called, 7. e. the blue shelly marls (1) and their overlying
yellow sandstone (panchina) and conglomerate (2), are there sur-
mounted by the freshwater limestone co which occupies plateaux
between Monte Reggioni and Colle, and in a deep denudation at the
latter place is seen to rest on shelly subapennine strata, as expressed in
the opposite diagram (fig. 39). Near Castello St. Geminiano on the
west, the yellow subapennine sands with shells rise out rapidly from
beneath this tufaceous limestone with its Lymnzeze, Planorbes and
other shells, and at Monte Reggioni on the east a similar infraposition
is equally clear. Towards Siena this freshwater formation becomes
a massive travertine, and constitutes undulating hills of hard and
tough cavernous rock ; among the lower masses is a very coarse con-
glomerate with huge angular fragments of Apennine limestone, often
two and three feet in diameter. The strata of reddish colours, which
are cut through by the railroad towards the source of the Staggia, are
evidently a portion of this same irregularly deposited and block tra-
vertine, the whole of which overlies the subapennine group. In this
tract there are considerable fractures, and wedge-shaped masses of
the shelly blue marl are here and there forced up against the over-
lying conglomerate and travertine.

The more detailed order of this district, which cannot, however,
be expressed in a general woodcut, seemed to me to exhibit in a de-
scending series beneath the vegetable soil, 1st, coarse alluvia; 2nd,
finely laminated sandy loam ; 3rd, lacustrine limestone with Lymneeee

* For details respecting these coal tracts of the Tuscan Maremma, see Professor
Savi’s work, ‘‘ Sopra i carboni fossili dei terreni mioceni delle Maremme Toscane,
Pisa, 1843.” Among the fossils he cites bones, possibly belonging to carnivora,
and teeth of rodentia, Mytilus Brardi (Brongn.), opercula of univalves, and imper-
fect casts which may belong to Buccinum, Fusus and Cardiacee. The character-
istic plants are Palmacites, a Musacea termed Uraniophyllites by, Prof. Pietro
Savi, with leaves of various dicotyledons (oak, plane, elder, cornél), cones of
pine, &c. Prof. Pilla has also described these tracts in a memoir entitled “ Sopra
il carbon fossile trovato in Maremma,” Florence, 1843; and in a work called
“Breve Cenno della richezza minerale delle Toscana,” Pisa, 1845.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 295

E.S.E.

Siena.

Monte
Reggioni.

col]

Fig. 39.

Castel
St.Geminiano.

Alberese an

Subapennine ie Shelly sands, panchina, conglomerate, &c.

3. Freshwater limestone, travertine, &c.

macigno.

1. Blue marls, &ec. (Brocchi).

and Planorbes, based upon and passing into a coarse
travertine, with calcareous agglomerate and breccia ;
4th, conglomerates of Apennine limestone, the surfaces
of the rounded pebbles being often covered with Ba-
lani and Serpule, and associated with yellow sands
containing large Ostreee and Pectens, &c.; these
graduate down into calciferous yellow sandstone, the
“‘ nanchina*’’ building-stone of the country, with con-
cretions of calcareous grit, &c.; 5th, blue marls, which
are much richer in shells m their upper parts only,
where they graduate into the yellow sands.

The larger and lower portion of these marls is, in-
deed, throughout large tracts as sterile in organic
remains as it is in its agricultural character. The
desolate region between Siena and Radicofani is en-
tirely composed of these naked, dull grey marls. On
the other hand, the pebble beds and incoherent sand-
stones and marls on which Perugia stands, and in
which her ancient Etruscan tombs were excavated,
are probably of miocene age. At all events they re-
semble the Superga series in mineral aspect, repose
upon macigno and alberese, and at Ficullo, between
Perugia and Orvieto, are succeeded by unquestionable
and very shelly subapennine strata.

In the volcanic regions extending from Radicofani
to Rome, there are no evidences of any stratum older
than the blue subapennine marl. ‘To find the equi-
valents of miocene deposits in the southern parts of
the Papal States, we must either travel eastwards into
the valleys of the Apennines, or, passing the axis, ex-
plore the rich deposits of that age with plants and
shells which await the geologist, who will work out
the data of which M. Orsini and Count A. Spada
have given a sketch.

Not intending now to enter upon the consideration
of the volcanic dejections of the Papal or Neapolitan
States+, I would however say a very few words to show
the connection which exists between the subapennine
strata that crop out at Rome and their associated
rocks, and thus indicate generally the succession of
geological pheetomena in the environs of the ancient

* Although applied to rocks of pliocene age at Siena and
Volterra, the term “ panchina”’ is used at Leghorn in reference
to a marine tufa or shore deposit, covered by red earth, which
is younger, and probably of the same age as the overlying tra-
vertines (3) of Siena and Colle.

Tt Monsignore Medici Spada and Professor Ponzi prepared
and presented to me a map of the volcanic dejections of La-
tium, which they regard as terrestrial, in contrast with the sub-
aqueous formations of the Campagna. They have indeed pub-
lished a general section, “ Profilo teoretico dei terreni della
Campagna di Roma.”’

296 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SociETY. [ Dec. 13,

mistress of the world. The oldest beds visible (and these only in
deep denudations to the north and west of St. Peter’s and the
Vatican, and at the foot of the Monte Mario*) are the blue shelly
marls or clay, largely excavated for brick-earth. These are followed
by sandstone, occasionally calcareous (‘‘ panchina”’ of Tuscany),
by yellow sands, and finally by pebble-beds, the materials of which
have nearly all been derived from the Apennine limestone. This
is the subapennine shelly group of Brocchi, and in reference to its
fossils I may state, that although many forms are common to the
lower and upper beds, which are so strikingly distinguished from
each other in lithological aspect, there are certain species, such as the
Cleodora lanceolata and C. Vaticani, which pertain to the inferior
blue marls only, and are never found in the overlying yellow sands.
It may also be mentioned, that here, as at Siena, the greatest number
of shells are found in the beds of junction of the two divisions.

The order in which the blue marls (the oldest stratum of the di-
strict) are overlaid by yellow sandstones and pebble-beds, and the
manner in which the latter were first associated with and next covered
over by volcanic materials and then elevated into land, and what
changes the surface subsequently underwent, I would attempt to
explain in this general woodcut, fig. 40. On the flanks of Monte

l North end of
Fig. 40. Monte Mario.

Tiber at 2 aaeIaES. E ae = 3
Ponte Molle. ARO EE =

Villa
Borghese.

——-

4 6 5 1
Modem ;.-..... 6. Alluvium of ancient valley of the Tiber.
Post-pliocene. ..5. Regenerated pebble beds, gravel and travertine.

4. Volcanic tuff (massive).
Subapennine or; 3. Pebble beds, sands and volcanic tuff.
Pliocene.... ) 2. Yellow sands, panchina, &c.
1. Shelly blue marls (brick earth).

Mario, good evidences exist of the superposition to the blue marls (1)
of the yellow calciferous sandstones and sands (2). In mounting to
the overlying pebbly beds (3) we see the first commencement of sub-
marine volcanic action in dejections of finely lammated peperino and
tuff, which are dovetailed into the uppermost of the subapennine
strata. Then follow those tuffs, peperinos and other volcanic rocks of
the Campagna, which were so extensively spread out under a former
sea, and of which the hills of Rome and the Villa Borghese afford
examples and varieties (4). These are, in fact, the submarine accu-
mulations which terminated the subapennine period.

After such masses had been raised into land, and when the valley
of the Tiber became in the first stance either a lake or a broad
river, detrital accumulations were, it would appear, formed out of the
materials both of the pliocene strata (1 & 2) and also of all the sub-
aqueous volcanic dejections (3 & 4) which had overspread them.
The materials of the ancient gravel above Ponte Molle decide this

* It would appear that a good many species of shells have been detected at
Villa Madama, the Vatican and other localities since Brocchi wrote. It is not my
province to enter into these details.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 297

point. Such terrestrial deposits, antecedent however to our own era,
there form low hillocks of gravel and sand, including fragments of
the submarine volcanic rocks (4), and also a band of travertine. It
is in these accumulations that numerous remains of the quadrupeds
which inhabited primeval Italy are found. Professor Ponzi has clearly
distinguished* them from their congeners in the older period (3) or
upper strata or the Subapennines. In that preceding period ‘the Ele-
phas primigenius (Blum.), Hippopotamus major (Blum.), Rhino-
ceros leptorhinus (Cuv.), Equus fossilis and Cervus primigenius were
inhabitants of the adjacent Apennines, from which their bones, with
much pebbly detritus, were washed down into the adjacent estuaries
and bays of the sea, and mixed up with its dolphins and shells.
When the estuary formations had been raised into land and formed
the banks of the ancient or broad valley of the Tiber, other quadru-
peds appeared, and if the bones of the older period be found added
to more recent remains, the former are always in a rolled and water-
worn condition.

Among the animals of the post-pliocene or quaternary deposits (5)
whose remains have been detected in such hillocks as those at Ponte
Molle, are Ursus, Meles antediluvianus, Felis brevirostris, Sus
scropha fossilis, Equus fossilis, E. asinus fossilis, Cervus primigenius,
Bos priscus, Bos primigenius, with aquatic birds, frogs, eels, &c.

From that epoch, so recent as respects geological history, but so
remote as respects man, we are ushered into our own era by finding
in the more modern alluvia of the Tiber, but when that stream was
much broader (6), the remains of creatures, such as the Dama
Romana, the Ovis aries and Capra egragus, which, though compa-
ratively recent and having disappeared from the peninsula, are in this
last deposit associated with the usual modern types, including the Bos
bubalus (Linn.), which shows that the Buffalo is indigenous in Italy.

In reviewing the vibrations and changes of relation which the ter-
tiary deposits of Italy have undergone, it appears that though in
many districts there are dislocations which affect one group and not
another, there are, on the other hand, sufficient examples of transition
which unite them. In this manner we have seen instances where
true eocene, as proved by organic remains, passes up into miocene
beds equally upheaved and conformable to them (Bassano, Asolo) ;
whilst in the southern parts of Tuscany and in the north of the Papal
States remains are seen in masses, which though much less fossili-
ferous are presumed to be their equivalents. Some of the miocene
coal deposits of Tuscany follow all the flexures and dislocations of
the older rocks on which they rest. M.Coquand compares them
with those of Aix m Provence and other spots well known to him,
and finding that they contain the same characteristic plant, Palma-
cites Lamanonis, he has contended that they should even be classed
as eocene or with the gypseous beds of the Paris basm. In synchro-
nizing freshwater with marine deposits, where there is not a continuous
succession of many strata, there is always considerable difficulty ; but

* See the Atti della ottava riunione degli Scienziati Italiani Genova, pp. 679
et seq.

298 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [| Dec. 13,

as these lignites are manifestly posterior to any stratum of the num-
mulitic series, which I regard as the eocene of Southern Europe, |
must consider them to be of miocene age, though in some instances
representing perhaps the lower beds of that division. In the full and
consecutive marine series of the Monferrato, and in the Apennines
of Bologna, no doubt can remain of a perfectly equable and confor-
mable transition from miocene into pliocene. Even in the convulsed
region of the Tuscan Maremma and its flanks, it is manifest that
beds of miocene are surmounted by the whole series of the lower
gypseous marls, which in their turn, though often highly imclined,
pass up into true subapennine blue marl.

Some geologists have indeed endeavoured to distinguish the miocene
from the pliocene tertiaries of Italy by the inclination of the strata in
the one and their horizontality in the other. But tbis method is
fallacious ; for although the great shelly masses of pliocene age, which
occupy broad valleys or large troughs, are necessarily more or less
horizontal, wherever they are removed from centres of disturbance,
there are numerous districts in which they are highly inclmed. Thus,
without going back to the sections of Bassano, the Monferrato, Bo-
logna, &c., we see both the blue marl and yellow sands, which are so
horizontal along the banks of the Elsa in Tuscany, dip at 35° to the
east of Volterra, whilst they are followed downwards at Specchiajolo
and Pignano, on the road to Colle, by gypseous marls, which are still
more highly inclined as they approach a ridge of elevation. Again,
where the basaltic cone of Radicofani perforates the tertiary trough
of blue marls which lie between the ridges of Monte Amato on the
west and Monte Cetona on the east, these young strata are singularly
dislocated. Even without quitting the environs of Rome, the most
perfect horizontality of the blue marls and overlying sandstones may
be observed near St. Peter’s and the Vatican; and yet in following
the uppermost of these strata to the summits of Monte Mario or west -
wards towards Civita Vecchia, they are found to undulate so rapidly
with local breaks, that sections made in two detached spots would
show an apparent unconformity, when in fact all is one continuous
series.

On the shores of Italy, as in the valleys of the Arno and the Tiber,
there are many proofs of a succession of deposits similar to that
which has been alluded to near Rome, ascending from the subapen-
nine or pliocene zera into the period when all the sea shells found in
the raised beaches are those of the present sea. On this point I will
now only add, that the oscillation to which the coast has been sub-
jected in the historic period, when the temple of Serapis in the bay of
Puzzuoli was depressed about twenty-five feet below its present level
and afterwards raised, was by no means a mere local subsidence, but
one which affected the whole of the adjacent coast of Italy. For, on
the seaward face of the promontory of Gaeta, which is a mass of sub-
crystalline or hippurite limestone, I satisfied myself of the accuracy of
the observation of Pilla* and other Italian geologists, that pholades
of existing species had eaten into the rock at about the same height

* Trattato de Geologia di L. Pilla, vol. i. p. 334. Pisa, 1847.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 299

above the water at which the perforations of these animals are ob-
servable in the columns of the temple of Jupiter Serapis; whilst
subsidences of ancient Roman buildings beneath the sea are apparent
im many adjacent places.

But although we thus learn that such oscillations of the land have
been in operation during the historic sera, who will venture to com-
pare the operations which gradually elevated and depressed the coast
of Italy a few feet, with those mighty forces which evolved the more
ancient upheavals, fractures and inversion of the Alps and Apennines ?
By no amount of gradual intumescence and subsidence can we explain
the grand phenomena of those mountains, and the geologist cannot
examine them without admitting, that they stand forth as monuments
of much more powerful causes than any of which there is a trace in
the modern period.

Concluding Remarks.

In recurring to the chief object of this memoir—the recognition of
Eocene deposits of large dimensions in the South of Europe—it is
unnecessary that I should here enumerate all the authors who have
considered the nummulitic rocks of the Alps and Italy to be of cre-
taceous or secondary age ; it beg enough to state that in the works
of E. de Beaumont, Dufrénoy, Studer, Escher, and others, and in
nearly all published maps and tabular views, they are still so classed.
Having now entirely abandoned the opinion which I once entertained,
that nummulites are common to the cretaceous and tertiary rocks of
the Alps, as explained in the preceding memoir, I will endeavour to
generalize the result. But first let me pass im review those authors
who have recently thrown light upon this subject by their surveys in
the south of France, where, in proceeding from our northern countries,
we find the eocene formation beginning to assume its Alpine and Me-
diterranean aspect, and what I consider to be its great and normal
type.

eae associate Mr. Pratt, who has so well illustrated the case of
Biaritz at the north-western foot of the Pyrenees, believes, that the
nummulitic and shelly strata there exposed are tertiary * ; but whilst
a great number of the fossils (56 species) are identical with forms of
the Paris basin, he conceives that the strata are of somewhat older
date than the eocene of the north of Europe. This opinion is pro-
bably to some extent correct, since a portion of the beds in question
may represent that interval of time which is marked in England by
the great disruption between the plastic clay and the chalk. In ex-
amining the fossils collected by Mr. Pratt, M. d’ Archiac detected only
three cretaceous forms in 108 species}, and of these, two are indivi-
duals, Ostrea vesicularis (Sow.) and O. lateralis (Nilss.), which are
repeated in other tracts in the lower stage of the nummulitic for-
mation.

In dividing the nummulitic group of the basin of the Adour into
three stages, M. Delbos shows that its mferior member, containing

* Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. 2 Ser. vol. ii. p. 185.
tT Mem. Soc. Géol. Fr. 2 Ser. tom. ii. p. 191.

300 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

the Ostrea vesicularis (associated, however, with the tertiary species
Ostrea gigantea, Terebratula semistriata and Cancer quadriloba-
tus), reposes on strata charged with Inoceramus Lamarckii and
Ananchytes ovatus, which he believes to be the true representative of
the white chalk of Paris*. These, I would remark, are precisely the
relations which exist both on the northern and southern flanks of the
Alps. M. Delbos further indicates, that his second stage in ascend-
ing order, which had been also confounded with the chalk, is a lime-
stone characterized by Schizaster rimosa, Hemiaster complanatus,
Nummulina millecaput (N. gigas, Catullo), Serpula spirulea, most
of which fossils occur in the shelly eocene of the Vicentine. Lastly,
he points out, that although, even in his third or uppermost band,
the Ostrea lateralis and the O. gigantea of the lower beds are re-
peated, they are there associated with a profusion of tertiary species.
This band is the great receptacle of nummulites throughout the
neighbourhood of Bayonne, the Corbitres, &c., which nummulites (I
may remark) are all or nearly all of the same species as in the Alps.

The facts developed by M. Leymerie are in my opinion essentially
the same as those described by M. Delbos ; for whilst he shows that
the “terrain 4 nummulites”’ is connected with the chalk by help of
certain fossils, still the great masses with nummulites are clearly
superposed. But then this author has a theory to account for his
“terrain épicrétacé.’’ Seeing that these supposed secondary rocks
of the south differ so much from those of the north of Europe, he
explains this in his last memoirt+ by supposing that they were de-
posited in separate and distinct seas; so that certain animals may
have continued to live on in the one, which had ceased to exist in the
other basin. In this way he is inclined to think, that the nummulitic
rocks of the south may represent at the same time the upper part of
the cretaceous and the lower part of the tertiary system of the north.

To this I would reply by positive data. It has been shown that
in this southern zone, and notably throughout the Alps, the very
beds of transition or union are positively underlaid by the true equi-
valent of the white chalk and a full complement of the cretaceous
system. Again, strata which M. Leymerie considers cretaceous,
merely from the presence of the Ostrea lateralis and the Terebra-
tula tenuistriata, are in my estimate the intermediate or transition
beds only ; and as the last-mentioned of these fossils is said to be un-
distinguishable from the 7. caput serpentis, a species which mounts
high into the tertiary deposits, nothing is gained by such an argu-
ment, particularly when the most secondary or cretaceous of the two
species, the Ostrea lateralis, is stated to be associated with several
well-known tertiary species.

In pointing out very clearly that the nummulitic rocks of Les Cor-
biéres are all posterior to the chalk, M. Talavignest has endeavoured
to divide the formation into what he calls two systems on account of
their unconformity ; but as no author has recognised a general break

* Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. vol. iv. pp. 557, 713.

+ Mém. de 1’Académie de Toulouse.
¢ Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. vol. iv. p. 1127.

1848.]| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 301

even in the Pyrenees, I am disposed to consider this a local phzeno-
menon, similar to that described by M. Favre in a portion of the
Savoy Alps. It is needless, however, here to speak of lines of dislo-
cation or transgressive deposits which I have disposed of elsewhere,
as we are now merely dwelling on paleontological data and regular
order of superposition ; and the result of the researches of M. Tala-
vignes is, that, with the exception of one Grypheea, all the fossils of
his two systems of nummulitic rocks are of tertiary forms.

An argument used by M. Dufrénoy to sustain the opmion of M.
de Beaumont and himself, that the nummulite rocks formed the up-
permost stage of the great cretaceous system of the south, has, it
seems to me, fallen to the ground*. That author had indicated that
the highly inclined nummulite strata of St. Justin in the Landes were
surmounted by horizontal beds of calcaire grossier. On a scrutiny
of this point, however, MM. Raulin and Delbos have proved, that the
supposed calcaire grossier is a true Bordeaux miocene, and therefore
we have there simply such a hiatus in the tertiary series as occurs in
many parts of the Alps and Italy. M. Raulin has, indeed, gone
further, and has proved, through the species of echinoderms*, that in
the same region (Dax) there zs a true equivalent of the white chalk,
and that the overlyimg nummulitic rocks are loaded with eocene
species. He insists, that whenever the nummulite group occurs,
there is no other representative of the eocene. Hence M. Raulin
believes that the great upheaval of the Pyrenees took place after the
eocene epoch ; and this is just what has occurred in the Alps. M.
Rouant has, indeed, described a “‘ terrain eocene ”’ in the environs of
Pau, which is the very same as the nummulitic group elsewhere, and
being in an intermediate position, it is most satisfactory to know that
it contains thirty-four fossil species of the Paris basin and five of the
Vicentine.

Now, whatever these deposits in the south of France may be called,
they are unquestionably of synchronous date with the nummulitic
group of the Alps ; for nearly every one of the same species of num-
mulites and orbitolites, besides many echinoderms and shells, occur in
both regions in strata occupying the same place in the geological scale ft.

* Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. vol. iv. p. 561. tT Ibid. vol. v. p. 114.

{ See p. 195, and the note on M. d’Archiac’s identification of the species I brought
from the Alps with those of the south of France. That able author has written to
me, that he sees no zoological reason why that which he has termed the Asiatico-
Mediterranean nummulitic group, extending, as he says, from the Asturias to the
banks of the Brahmapootra, may not be the true type of the lower tertiary forma-
tion, whilst that which we have hitherto regarded as such (Paris, London, &c.)
may have been due to local causes, and circumscribed to some ancient gulf of north-
western Europe. What he still requires, before he modifies the opinions he has
already expressed, are, clear proofs of geological and stratigraphical relations, and
he hopes to find this point sustained in my memoir. Whilst speaking of the zoo-~
logical characters of the nummulitic group, I am also happy to say, that a number
of its fossils, forming part of a large collection in the Woodwardian Museum of
Cambridge, procured from Count Minster, and ticketed by that naturalist from
various Alpine localities cited in this memoir, have all been classed as eocene ter-
tiary by Mr. F. M‘Coy (the assistant of Professor Sedgwick) after a careful com-
parison of them with types of that age from other tracts.

VOL. V.——PART I. *

302 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 13,

To the very decisive opinion of M. Ewald of Berlin respecting the
true tertiary character of the fossils of the Vicentine recorded in this
memoir, I may add, that in a paper read before the Geological Sec-
tion at Venice, he demonstrated that certain multilocular bodies in
the hippurite limestone of Berre, near Marseilles, though resembling
nummulites, were, in fact, quite distinct from them, both in structure
and in the absence of the lenticular form. Abandoning his old opi-
nions, like myself, M. Boué admits that as a whole the nummulites
must be ranged in the eocene group, and he now the better under-
stands why in certain parts of Turkey the miocene and younger
tertiary at once succeed to nummulite rocks. It has indeed been
stated by M. Constant Prevost, that nummulites occur with hippu-
rites in the limestones of Cape Passaro in Sicily. That nummulite
limestones immediately cover hippurite limestone in Italy, is a fact
on which I have dilated ; but whether the relations be the same in
Sicily I cannot of course decide, not having been able to visit the spot.
M. Coquand, whilst classing with the cretaceous rocks the nummulitic
limestone and macigno of Morocco, shows at the same time, that the
latter everywhere surmount the hippurite limestone; and this state-
ment leads me to believe, that the general succession is the same in
Africa as in Italy and in the Alps.

In casting our eyes eastward to the grand region of Northern
Russia, we see how the deposits above the chalk preserve the type
of our Northern Europe, and how in following them to the Carpa-
thians and the Crimeea, they are found to assume the southern type.
The sections of the nummulitic rocks of the south eoast of the Crimea,
whether by M. Dubois or by M. de Verneuil, completely establish the
fact, that the great mass of nummulitic hmestone, with its Ostrea
gigantea and other eocene fossils, is clearly superposed to the chalk.
M. Dubois thinks, indeed, that one species of Nummulina there de-
scends into the rock with true chalk fossils. But even if this be so,
and that a true nummulite should also coexist with the uppermost
hippurite rock of Cape Passaro in Sicily, it will only prove that the
genus was called into existence a little earlier in those latitudes and
longitudes than in the Alps and Apennines, whilst at the same time
it would offer an additional proof of that very transition between the
rocks called secondary and tertiary on which I have dwelt. However
this may be, the facts remain the same, in relation to the great masses
of nummulites that characterize the eocene of Southern Europe,
which I have described. These, I repeat, are invariably supracre-
taceous ; the nummulites being associated with a profusion of other
animal remains of true tertiary character *.

* The superposition of true nummulites to, the cretaceous rocks of the Astu-
rias is announced to me by M. de Verneuil whilst these pages are passing through
the press. The limestones and sandstones of that province which are charged
with hippurites and radiolites, contain also abundance of ordzfolites. The latter
(which have been mistaken for nummulites) are fairly intercalated in the cre-
taceous system, and are surmounted by a yellowish limestone with spatangi, which
may be the equivalent of the white chalk. This cretaceous group is distinctly over-
laid by limestone abounding in true nummulites, which dips under sandstone and
sands. This nummulitic band contains Ostrea gigantea, Conoclypus canaideus,

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 303

The nummulitic rocks which occupy large spaces in Egypt are all
unquestionably of this same eocene age, as proved by their fauna. In
a collection of fossils recently sent to the Royal Museum at Turin,
M. Bellardi and myself recognized at a glance the eocene group of
the Vicentine*.

Besides the Nummulina millecaput and N. placentula, well known in
the Alps, these Egyptian rocks contain the Bulla Fortisii, Al. Brongn.,
Turritella vittata, Lamk., T. imbricataria, Rostellaria fissurella and
Nerita conoidea, forms which are known in the Paris basin, in the
Vicentine and at Nice. All the other Egyptian fossils, including
Crustacea and Echinoderms, if not identical, are analogous to those
of the supracretaceous group of the Alps and Italy. The same types
of Pecten, of small, spinose Spondyli and Cardiaceze, with Cassis and
many univalves, complete the group.

Following this grand nummulitic formation from Egypt and Asia
Minor+ across Persia by Bagdad to the banks of the Indus, we long
ago knew, from the communications of Capt. Grant, how in Cutch it
is copiously loaded with fossils, which from the drawings and descrip-
tions of Mr. James Sowerby t{ have alla tertiary aspect and relations.
Subsequently the labours of Capt. Vicary, as recorded in our Pro-
ceedings §, have greatly added to our acquaintance with the range of
these nummulitic rocks, which, in the form of limestones and sand-
stones, compose the great mass of the highly inclined strata of the
mountain ranges of Hala and Solyman that separate Scinde from
Persia, and extending from south to north, form the passes leading
toCabul. From collections recently sent home to me by Capt. Vicary
it now appears, that some members of the same nummulitic group
wrap round also from west to east in the Sub-Himalayan tracts in
which Sabathoo is situated ; and are said to reoccur, even in the
kingdom of Assam. No geologist can view the fossils of this vast
Eastern region (including nearly all the Punjaub, and even a large
portion of Affghanistan) without bemg convinced that they belong
to the same member of the series as the eocene of the Alps and
Italy ; for, with the same absence of ammonites, belemnites, hamites,
or any cretaceous types, they exhibit six or seven species of num-

Serpula spirulea, and other well-known eocene forms. The same order seems to
prevail throughout Spain, even into the province of Malaga, and everywhere the
nummulitic eocene, as in the Alps, has undergone the same flexures as the cretaceous
rocks, whilst the fossils of the two formations are quite distinct.—June 1, 1849.

* Not more than half of this collection had been critically examined and com-
pared when I left Turin in June 1848. I may here add, that a reference to Rus-
segger’s sections and description of the Mokattan Hills, near Cairo, would also lead
inevitably to the inference, that the nummulitic rocks of Egypt are of eocene age
(see Russegger, Reise in Europa, Asien und Afrika: Stuttgart ; with fol. atlas). In
short, this work affords evidence of the existence of true cretaceous rocks, fol-
lowed by both eocene and younger tertiary deposits. Still M. Russegger, like
most of his contemporaries, classes the nummulite rocks with the chalk.

+ See Hamilton’s Asia Minor, vol. i. pp. 405, 410, 500. M. Tchihatcheff will
extend our knowledge on this point when he publishes the results of his recent
travels.

$ Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. v. Second Ser. p, 289 and plates.

§ Journal Geol. Soc. Lond. vol. iii. p. 331.

¥i2

304 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. | Dec. 13,

mulites*, four of which, the Nummulina millecaput or polygyratus;
N. planospira or assilinoides, the N. crassa (Boubée), and the N. Bia-
ritzana (D’Arch.), are identical with widely-spread and well-known
forms of the South of Europe. Then again the same groups of
radiata, conchifera and mollusca occur as in the nummulitic eocene
of Europe. Some of the fossil shells of Scinde are, indeed, scarcely to
be distinguished from the species of the Vicentine, particularly the
so-called Nerita conoidea (Lamk.), or the Neritina grandis (Sow.), as
well as one or two forms of Natica, the Trochus agglutinans, &c.,
whilst they have all a tertiary aspect, and if not identifiable with, are
closely related to, our South European eocene formst.

In comparing rocks of this epoch from distant parts of the globe,
the amount of coincidence in their zoological contents is very remark-
able, and in tracing their greater or less assimilation to our Kuropean
types, we find, as might be supposed, that such is in a great measure
dependent on the occurrence of similar or dissimilar conditions of
deposit. Thus, in the Vicentine on the south flank of the Alps,
where white limestones and marls abound, there are many more
species common to that tract and the basin of Paris, than on the
northern flank of the chain, where the deposits are more sandy
and earthy, though their distance from the Parisian types 1s much
smaller. Again, with the recurrence of strong resemblance to the
lithological character of the Paris basin in the nummulitic rocks of
Egypt and Scinde, we meet with a persistence of many identical or
analogous forms, even at those vast distances. In the eyes of the
geologist and paleontologist, therefore, the eocene type of Southern
Europe extends through the heart of Asia, the differences in the fauna
being simply characteristic of formations accumulated under varying
conditions at the same time in distant seas. The surprise, indeed, is,
that through the presence of certain species of nummulites, corals,
echinoderms and shells, there should be so strikmg a resemblance
in these widely separated deposits of so young an age as the eocene.

When we take the map of the world in hand, and view the enor-
mous range of this nummulitic formation at intervals, through twenty-

* The researches of Capt. Vicary were undertaken by order of Lieut.-General
Sir Charles Napier, after his brilliant conquest of Scinde. M. Leopold von Buch
long ago recognized, in a letter to myself (see also Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. vol. iv.
p- 542), the identity of the nummulitic formation of Southern Europe with that
which ranges from the Mediterranean and Egypt across Persia by Bagdad into
Hindostan, and I much regret to have mislaid his short but pregnant sketch.

+ Mr. Morris first examined these fossils of Scinde at my request, and seeing
the close analogy which they present to the nummulitic group of Europe, had pre-
pared a list of them. I have since submitted them to M. d’Archiac at Paris, in
the hope that he may describe them in detail for the Geological Society of London,
and compare them with the nummulitic fauna of Southern France, which he has
well studied. The species named, with the aid of Mr. Morris, in the Table at the
end as having a wide range, result in part from these examinations, and also from
a comparison of the corals by M. Jules Haime (the associate of M. Milne-Edwards),
who has stated that four species of that class derived from Scinde, are identical
with forms published from Nice. I may also add, that I saw in the Royal Mu-
seum at Turin, a Cyclorite from the mountains between Scinde and Cabul, which
M. Bellardi identifies with the Cyclolites Borsoni (Michelin) of Nice.

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 305

five degrees of latitude and near one hundred degrees of longitude, its
northernmost ridge on the north flank of the Carpathians being clearly
identifiable with its southernmost known limb in Cutch, and its western
masses in Spain and Morocco being similar to those of the Brahma-
pootra, we at once see the vast importance which attaches to a right
understanding of its true place in the geological series. And this
assimilation of distant deposits is effected, it will be remembered, in
spite of great local diversities of lithological and mineral character.
The black subcrystalline schists and limestones of the summits of the
Vallaisan and Savoyard Alps, with their Cerithia and Melaniz, and
the black fish-slates of Glarus ; the hard, calcareous, green sandstones
_of the Alps of Bern, of the four cantons, and of Bavaria, are all proved
by their fossils and order of superposition to have been formed during
the same geological period asthewhite limestones, marls and sandstones
of Monte Bolea and the Vicentine, and by zoological inference, at the
same time as similar rocks in Egypt and Hindostan. Nay more,
we see in the Alps enormous thicknesses of overlying “flysch” and
“‘macigno,” which having often the aspect of the oldest secondary
or even of transition rocks, are not of higher antiquity than our
unconsolidated London clay and Bagshot sands!

In coming to my present opinion I regret to be compelled to dissent
from my eminent friend M. Elie de Beaumont; for even in the last
modification of his opinions, he views the “terrain 4 nummulites”’
as a member of the cretaceous rocks. In one essential point indeed,
when he states that complete researches will probably make known
passages or transitions between all conterminous formations, he gives
the great value of his sanction to opinions I have long held and pub-
lished*. I rejoice that he pointedly adverts to the error of those
who believe in general dislocations, or revolutions which have neatly
separated one great group of rocks and their imbedded animals from
another; and that stating how all disruptions are local in reference
to the surface of the globe, he admits with me, that even in two
formations unconformable to each other, some of the same organic
remains have been found to exist. Apparently, however, not suffi-
ciently acquainted with the presence in the Alps of a full represen-
tative of the chalk, and believing that the nummulitic series there
. rests upon strata of the age of the greensand, he supposes that the
nummulitic group and flysch of that chain may answer to the upper
part of the cretaceous system, and may also fill up the interval so
frequently observable in Northern Europe, between the surface of the
chalk and the plastic clay. But he must forgive me when I state
my belief, that this view cannot now stand in the face of the clearly-
ascertained succession which has been pointed out. If it were
valid, then the nummulitic rocks and flysch or “terrain épicrétacé”’
would surely somewhere be overlaid by a zoological representative of
the calcaire grossier ; whereas in every country where it is known,
the nummulitic and flysch group is surmounted, for the most part
unconformably, by deposits with miocene or pliocene shells. Even if

* See Silurian System and Russia in Europe, passim.

306 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Dec. 13,

they were void of fossils, the enormous accumulations of finely-lami-
nated beds, which overlie the true equivalents of the chalk, and are
followed by the deposits which hitherto have alone been viewed as
younger tertiary, must represent so long a period, that as physical
monuments only they are in my mind’s eye, full and complete equiva-
lents in time of the eocene of geologists*.

And now a word upon the reform which the adoption of this view
must introduce into geological maps. The truth is, that in previous
classifications of the rocks of Southern Europe the eocene formation
has been almost omitted, chiefly because it there usually forms the
upper portion of a continuous and unbroken series of strata, of which
the neocomian limestone or lowest member of the cretaceous system
is the base. In some tracts it will doubtless be difficult, except the
scale of the map be large, to indicate the separation of the eocene
from such cretaceous rocks ; but on the other hand, it will be as easy
as it is necessary to mark this formation by a distinct colour over
enormous spaces, separating it from the cretaceous on the one hand
and from the younger tertiary deposits on the other. Even in the
most general maps I conceive that this distinction may be effected.
No geological division can, indeed, be more essential than that which
distinguishes lower tertiary rock-masses from those of upper secon-
dary age ; inasmuch as, with the exception of certain beds of junction,
the two groups have no organic remains in common, and afford the
clearest proofs of having been formed at different periods of time,
and when the submarine fauna underwent a total change.

Lastly, let me say, that without taking a comprehensive view of the
whole question, and alluding to the works of my contemporaries, I
should not have made apparent the value of the establishment of a
clear order of secondary and tertiary succession in the Alps, Carpa-
thians-and Italy. In respect to my leading object, I repeat, that
wherever true and full representatives of the different members of
the cretaceous system occur, from the neocomian or equivalent of the

* In a letter recently received from M. Alcide d’Orbigny, he thus expresses him-
self: ‘“ For three years I have made the most extensive researches upon Nummu-
lites ; and in comparing all the stratigraphical and paleontological results, it is im-
possible not to recognize therein two distinct epochs, as represented by strata, super-
posed the one to the other, and having each its proper fauna. One of these epochs,
which I have recognized in the French Alps, the Pyrenees and the Gironde, cor-
responds to the plastic clay of Paris and London, and which, belonging to the
lower sands of Soissons, I have named ‘ Etage Suessonien’; the other, equally
common in the Alps and the basins of the Gironde, and which includes the ‘ cal-
caire grossier’ of Paris up to the gypsum of Montmartre and the London clay, &c.,
I designate ‘ Etage Parisien.’ These divisions, based upon a considerable number
of facts, are detailed in the work I am now printing, and the entire composition of
their characteristic faunas is given in my ‘ Prodromus of Universal Paleontology.’
The habit I have acquired of determining these fossils makes me regret that I can-
not go to inspect your collections in London; but the portions of them I have
seen in the hands of our friend M. de Verneuil have led me to recognize at once
what I was already acquainted with in the Pyrenees and the French Alps. Again,
the fossils I have examined in the collection of M. Tchihatcheff (recently brought
from Asia Minor) confirm me in my opinion, and would lead me to extend the limits
of these tertiary stages, as you have suggested, even to Hindostan.”

1848.] MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 307

lower greensand, upwards through the gault and upper greensand into
the white chalk inclusive,—there also all the species of the genus
Nummulina lie invariably above such strata; and further, that with
the exception of one or two forms of Gryphzea and Terebratula (con-
chifers peculiarly tenacious of life, and which generally occur in the
beds of transition above the chalk, and never rise above the lower
beds of the nummulitic group), all the fossils associated with the
nummulites are of eocene type. I am glad that these conclusions,
derived from geological researches and absolute sections, are in har-
mony with the results obtained by the most eminent naturalists from
their study of organic remains. Brongniart, Deshayes and D’Or-
bigny have long maintained that the nummulites of France are truly
of tertiary age. Agassiz groups them as rather pertaining to a pe-
culiar or lower tertiary. In his recent valuable tabular view of all
known fossils (to which I specially invite attention), Professor Bronn
of Heidelberg places the nummulitic group as the natural base of all
the tertiary deposits. This concordance of physical geology with
paleeontology has indeed been everywhere established where patient
researches have been carried out.

In conclusion, it is unnecessary that I should revert to all the de-
ductions I have attempted to draw concerning the operations of meta-
morphism, contortion, and fracture by which the strata of the Alps
and Apennines have been so powerfully affected; and I will now
simply recapitulate the chief points which I have grouped together,
in presenting to my countrymen a view of the normal order of the
formations, as well as of the derangements they have undergone, in
the Alps, Carpathians and Apennines.

1. That whilst evidences of Silurian, Devonian and carboniferous
rocks exist m the Eastern Alps, the paleeozoic group of Southern
Europe nowhere exhibits traces of the Permian system of Northern
Europe.

2. That these paleeozoic rocks are succeeded in the Eastern Alps,
and notably in the South Tyrol, by the “Trias,” as characterized by
known muschelkalk fossils and also by many species peculiar to the
Alpine zone of this system ; whilst none of these fossils have yet been
recognized in the Western Alps.

3. That the Jurassic system of the Alps and Apennines is made up
of two distinct calcareous formations; the inferior representing the
lias and lower oolites, the superior the Oxfordian group, so largely
developed throughout Russia, though in a very different mineral
condition.

4. That the cretaceous system of Southern Europe is composed of
hard subcrystalline Neocomian limestones (the equivalents in great
part of the English lower greensand), of a band replete with fossils
of the gault and upper greensand, and of red, grey and white lime-
stones with Inocerami representing the chalk.

5. That where the sequence is full and unbroken, the cretaceous
rocks of the Alps and Apennines graduate conformably and insensibly
upwards by mineral and zoological passages into the nummulitic zone,

308 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [{ Dec. 13,

in which and in its great intercalated and overlymg masses of flysch
or upper “‘macigno”’ the secondary types have vanished, and an
eocene tertiary fauna appears.

6. That by the presence of numerous fossils, and notably by its
nummulites and echinoderms, this eocene group is known to extend
from the Mediterranean through Egypt, Asia Minor and Persia to
Hindostan, and there to occupy large regions forming the western
and northern limits of British India.

7. That the names of Carpathian sandstone and Vienna sandstone,
as well as of flysch and macigno, have been applied to rocks which
are both of secondary and tertiary age; but that in the Carpathians,
as in the Alps, those portions of them contaming nummulites with
certain overlying strata represent the eocene tertiary.

8. That the cretaceous and nummulitic eocene formations of the
Alps having been successively deposited under the sea, have since
undergone the same common flexures and fractures, by which the
younger strata have been frequently folded under those of older date.

9. That the only general feature of independence in the forma-
tions of the Northern Alps, is that which is exhibited in the grand
rupture and hiatus between the pre-existing nummulitic eocene with
flysch and the subsequently-formed molasse and nagelflue.

10. That as the marine contents of the Swiss molasse, whether
called younger miocene or older pliocene, exhibit a large proportion
of living species of marine shells, whilst the associated and overlying
strata of terrestrial origin, often called molasse, are loaded with forms
all of which are extinct, the same terms cannot be applied as equiva-
lents to define the tertiary strata which were formed contempora-
neously under the sea and upon the land (see p. 237).

11. That although on the southern flank of the Venetian Alps the
nummulitic eocene group is followed by younger tertiary deposits,
which, also elevated at high angles, have a direction parallel to the
older chain, it is believed that such external lower parallel (Bassano,
Asolo) was produced after that chief elevation which raised the se-
condary and eocene rocks together, and has in many places left the
latter upon the summits of the Alps.

12. That notwithstanding local dislocations, Northern Italy further
exhibits conformable passages from what may be the uppermost eocene
or lowest miocene high up into subapennine strata, in which most of
the shells are undistinguishable from those now living.

13. That since the emersion of all the pliocene and youngest
marine deposits and their addition to the pre-existing lands, the os-
cillations which the coasts of Italy have undergone, particularly during
the historic era, are symptoms of the remains only of that subterra-
nean energy which was exerted with much greater intensity during
former periods in the Alps, Carpathians and Apennines.

1848. ]

MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS.

309

Species of the Nummulitic Eocene group having a wide geographical
range.

Fossils.

Nummulina millecaput, Boubée=N.
polygyratus, Desh.

planospira, Boubée=N. assi-

linoides, Riit.

Biaritzana, d’Arch.—N. ata-
cica, Leym.=N. acuta, Sow.=N.
regularis, Riit.

rotularis, Desh.=N. globulus,
Leym.=(N. levigata, Pusch, t.12.
f.16 a)?

placentula, Desh. = N. inter-
media, d’Arch.

globosa, Riit. & d’ Arch.=N.
obtusa, Joly & Leym. (var. of Bia-
ritzana).

levigata, Lamk.

or ere es eevee

— granulosa, d’Arch...........

crassa, Boubée = N. obtusa,
Sow.

Orbitolites submedia, d’Arch.=O.
Prattii, Michelin.

Pistsereie, EC 4. SOS

patellaris, Brunner ........

stellaris, Brunner=Calcarina

stellata, d’ Arch.

ZOOPHYTA.

Trochocyathus bilobatus, M. Ed-
wards and J. Haime, Ann. Scien.
Nat. 3 ser. vol. ix. p. 331.

multisinuosus, M. Edwards and

J. Haime, ibid. p. 336.

near to T. cyclolitoides, M. Ed-
wards and J. Haime, ibid.

Trochosmilia corniculum, M. Ed-
wards and J. Haime, ibid. p. 240.

Stylocenia emarciata, M. Edwards
and J. Haime, ibid.

Ceratotrochus near to C. exaratus,
M. Edwards and J. Haime, ibid.

Cyclolites Borsoni, Michelin......

Astreea radiata, Lamk. ..........

Meandrina profunda, Michelin ....

Localities.
Alps. Pyrenees. Crimea. Egypt.
Vicentine. Scinde.
South of France. Pyrenees. Alps.
Apennines. Carpathians. Mt.

Gargano (Naples).
Alps. Biaritz. Vicentine. Cutch and
Scinde.

South of France. Pyrenees. Alps.

Crimea. Carpathians?

South of France. Alps. Crimea.
Egypt. Scinde?

Alps. South of France.

London. Paris. Belgium. Lower
Pyrenees. Vicentine. Mt. Gar-

gano (Naples).
Dax. Pyrenees. Mt. Gargano (Na-

ples). Asia Minor.

Alps. Pyrenees. Cutch.

South of France. Pyrenees. (Mat-
see.) Alps.

South of France. Alps. Scinde.
Alps.

Swiss Alps. Vicentine. Nice. South
of France.

Nice. Scinde.
Nice. Scinde.
Scinde.
Nice. Scinde.
Paris. Scinde.
Scinde.

Rivalta (Bormida). Nice. Scinde.
Paris. Vicentine. Rivalta (Bormida).
Vicentine. Rivalta (Bormida).

Obs.—The greater number of the corals of the Vicentine have not yet been
compared with those of other localities.

310 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Dec. 13,

Fossils. Localities.
RADIARIA.
Pygorhynchus Cuvieri, Miinst. sp... Paris. N. Alps.
subcylindricuy, Ag...) . Trent. Pyrenees.

Conoclypus conoideus, Lamk. sp... N. Alps. (S. Alps.) Pyrenees. As-
turias. Nice. Vicentine. Crimea.

Egypt.
Echinocyamus profundus, dg. .... Trent (S. Tyrol). Swiss Alps.
Echinolampas politus, Ag......... N. Alps. South of France.
subsinmilis,, @ineh. Pk . Pyrenees. Trent (8. Tyrol). Cutch.

Obs.—The number and variety of the species of Echinoderms, chiefly
elongated, which are found in the nummulitic group im the Alps, Pyrenees
and India, amounting to upwards of 100 species, eminently characterize
this formation ; not one of them being known im the cretaceous rocks. The
greatest number of species belong to the genera Echinolampas, Conoclypus,
Pygorhynchus, Eupatagus, Hemiaster and Schizaster (see Agassiz).

CRUSTACEA.

Cancer Sonthofensis .........5.. Sonthofen, Bavarian Alps.

Obs.—Other species of Crustacea are also abundant in the Alps, Egypt,
Scinde, &c.

ANNELIDA.
Serpula spirulea, Lamk. ........ Paris. Swiss and Bavarian Alps.
Vicentine. Asturias.
CoNCHIFERA.
Cytherea elegans, Lamk... ...... London. Paris. Vicentine.
Venericardia acuticostata, Lamk.= Paris. Vicentine.

V. Laure, Brong.=Cardiumsemi-
granulatum, Minst.

zCTOR US Ue Uae (7 Oa a pire itr ess Pyrenees. Nice. Egypt.
Chama squamosa, Sow........... London. Bassano.
Pholadomya Puschu, Goldf....... London? South of France. West-
phalia. Nice. Vicentine. Scinde.
Crassatella suleata, Sow. ........ London. Schio. Vicentine.

Pecten corneus, Sow.=P. suborbi- London. Kressenberg. Swiss Alps.
cularis, Minst.

plebems, Lamk............. Paris. Kressenberg. Swiss Alps.

scutularis, Lamk........... Paris. Kressenberg. Swiss Alps.

Ostrea gigantea, Dubois=O. latis- London. Paris. South of France.

sima, Desh. Nice. Vicentine. Alps. Pyrenees.
Asturias. Crimea.

miulticostata, Desh: ..... 4... Paris. Pyrenees. Nice. Egypt.

Terebratulabisinuata,Desh.=T.sub- Paris. Kressenberg.
alpina, Munst.
Spondylus cisalpmus, Brong. .... Nice. Sardagna near Trent. (S. Ty-
rol.) Vicentine and Bavarian Alps.

Mo.uuusca.

Conus diversiformis, Desh. ...... Paris. Scinde. .
stromboides (=C. concinnus, London. Bassano and Vicentine.

Sow.).

1848.]| MURCHISON ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE ALPS. 311
Fossils. Localities.
Ovula tuberculosa, Duclos ...... Paris. Crimea. Scinde.
Voluta Cithara, Lamk. ........+. Paris. Scinde.
harpulas Lamb... 20600 ess Paris. Bassano.
Balla Fortism, Brong...-....... + Vicentine. Egypt.
Stricter, LGR. 0.2. ..5 +5 Paris. Vicentine.
Terebra Vulcani, Brong. ........ Vicentine. Scinde.
Cerithium giganteum, Lamk.?.... London. Paris. Venetian Alps.
Nice. Crimea. Scinde, &c.
—hexagonum, Lamk.=C. penta- Paris. Cotentin. Vicentine.
gonum, Fortis=C. Maraschini,
Brong.
— cornucopie, Lamk. = C. ar- Paris. Cotentin. Vicentine.
matum, Miinst.
Rostellaria fissurella ............ Paris. Nice. Vicentine. Egypt.
Strombus Fortisu, Brong......... Vicentine. Scinde.
Fusus longevus, Lamk.......... . London. Paris. Vicentine. Bassano.
Wtartgis, Ldithee'. os ois 0 see Paris. Bassano.
Neritina conoidea, Lamk......... Paris. Pyrenees. 8. Tyrol. Vicen-
tine. Egypt. Scinde.

Natica sigaretina, Lamk. ........

Paris. Nice. Vicentine. Scinde, &c.

Pleurotoma semicolon, Sow....... London. Bassano. Possagno, &c.
miumtstea LaMK. Coke ee it Paris. Bassano.
Melania costellata, Lamk......... Paris. Swiss Alps. Vicentine.
lactea, Lamk. = M. Stygii, Paris. Vicentine.
Brong.
Turritella Archimedis, Brong. .... Paris. Pyrenees. Egypt.
imbricataria, Lamk. ........ London. Paris. Swiss Alps. Vicen-
tine. Egypt. Crimea. Scinde.
— vittata, Lamk. ..........5. Paris. Nice. Vicentine. Egypt.
Scinde.
Trochus monilifer, Lamk......... Paris. Scinde.
agelutinans, Lamk. ........ Paris. Vicentine. Scinde.
Nautilus ziezac, Sow............. London. Kressenberg. Matsee.

Obs.—Among the fossils recently sent to me by Capt. Vicary from

Subathoo in Hindostan, are fragments of the lower jaw and teeth of a
small gavial, of which Professor Owen says: “It seems to have rather
rounder teeth than the modern species in India, and in this respect to
resemble our old British eocene gavial of Bracklesham.’’ None of
the other forms from this Sub-Himalayan tract (according to Pro-
fessor E. Forbes, to whom I referred them,) indicate the presence of
rocks more ancient than the nummulitic eocene.

Under the term Scinde, &c. the reader may comprehend Cabul, the
Punjaub, the valley of Cashmir, and the Sub-Himalayan range to the
kingdom of Assam. Mr. Vigne, who explored Cashmir, has shown
me limestone charged with nummulites from thence.

312 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Dec. 13,1848. ]

Postscript.—In addition to my own limited observations on the Trias
of the Venetian and 8. Tyrolese Alps (p. 165), I intended to have re-
ferred my readers to the illustration of the rocks and fossils of that
age contained in the work of Professor Catullo, ‘‘ Prodromo di Geo-
gnosia paleozoica delle Alpi Venete. Modena, 1847.” Besides the
common muschelkalk species cited in the preceding pages, Professor
Catullo figures and describes several new species, and also the inter-
esting triassic plant Voltzia brevifolia (Brong.). He further enu-
merates many fossils of the jurassic and cretaceous groups of that
region, and figures their Cephalopoda. I cannot pretend to decide
authoritatively a point on which this author insists—that certain
Species are common to the Upper Jura and Neocomian ; but whilst
I should be very sorry to do injustice to so experienced a naturalist
as Professor Catullo, I must repeat, that wherever I have examined
a tract in which there was a clear geological succession, there also
the accompanying zoological distinctions indicated by M. de Zigno
seemed to me to be equally clear. In cases of this nature everything
depends upon correct definitions of the relations and order of the
strata. Professor Catullo also describes five species of nummulites
from the tertiary rocks of the Vicentine, but I must leave others to
determine how far these forms have been named by previous authors.
In another work (‘‘ Cenni sopra il terreno di sedimento superiore
Venezia. 1847.”), Professor Catullo figures a number of tertiary
corals.

I have just received a new geological map of the environs of Vienna
by M. Johann Czjzek, in which the author represents the ‘‘ Wiener
Sandstein”’ as older than the Alpine (jurassic?) limestone! I have
not sufficiently re-examined that tract to be able to controvert this
inference, but I firmly hold to the facts stated in the preceding
memoir; and as the Bavarian “ flysch’’ is unquestionably, like that
of Switzerland, supracretaceous, it is for the Austrian geologists to
show that their “‘ Wiener Sandstein”’ is neither a prolongation of the
same deposit, nor even an arenaceous development of any portion of
the cretaceous system.

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Vummutlite
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Inoceramus limestone
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System

Upper Neocomian

Lower Neccomtan

debris

Rosslen .

Stecken-
berg.

Col between.

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Western continuation
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Reeve, Benham & Reeve, Lithographers

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313

DONATIONS

TO THE

LIBRARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

January \st to March 31st, 1849.

I. TRANSACTIONS AND JOURNALS.

Presented by the respective Societies and Editors.

AcapréMieE Royale des Sciences de Paris, Comptes Rendus de I’.
Tome xxvii. Deux. Sem.

Agricultural Society of England (Royal), Journal. Vol.ix.pt.2.No.22.

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Memoirs. New Series,
vol. ill.

American Journal of Science. Second Series, vol. vii. No. 19.

Ashmolean Society, Proceedings, 1848. No. 25.

Athenzum Club, Rules and Regulations.

Atheneum Journal.

Chemical Society, Quarterly Journal. No. 5.

Cornwall, Royal Geological Society of, Annual Report, 1848.

Dublin University Museum, 3rd Report on the Progress of the, 1848.

France, Société Géologique de, Mémoires. Deux. Série, tome ii.
partie 1. Bulletin, Deux. Série, tomev.f. 29-32, tome vi. f.1—10.

Geographical Society (Royal), Journal. Vol. xviii. part 2.
Indian Archipelago, Journal. Vol. ii. Nos. 10, 11 & 12.
Neuchatel, Société des Sciences Naturelles, tome ii. 1846-7.

Newcastle-on-Tyne Literary and Philosophical Society, Catalogue of
the Library, 1848.

Northumberland Natural History Society, Reports, 1846-7.
Philosophical Magazine. From R. Taylor, Esq., F.G.S.
Royal Society of Edinburgh, Transactions. Vol. xvi. part 4, and
vol. xvii.
, Proceedings. Vol. ii. Nos. 31 and 32.

314 DONATIONS.

St. Pétersbourg, Académie Impériale des Sciences, Mémoires, 6™*
Série, tome vi. vil. & viii. Bulletin de la Classe Physico-Ma-
thématique, tome v. & vi.

Torino, Reale Accademia delle Scienze di, Memorie. Serie 2, tomo
Vil. viii. & ix.
Vaudoise Société, Bulletin. No. 19.

Wien, Berichte tiber die Mittheilungen von Freunden der Naturwis-
senschaften, Band 4. Nos. 1-6, 1848.

——, Naturwissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, gesammelt und he-
rausgegeben von Wilhelm Haidinger. Band 2.

II. GEOLOGICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS.
Names in italics presented by Authors.

Agassiz, Prof. LL. Lectures on Embryology in 11 Nos. of the ‘‘ Ame-
rican Traveller”? newspaper. rom Sir Charles Lyell, P.G.S.

Ansted, D. T. The Gold-Seeker’s Manual.

Bellardi, Luigi. Monografia delle Columbelle Fossili del Piemonte.
Bunbury, C. J. F. Journal of a Residence at the Cape of Good Hope.
Carpenter, W. B., M.D. Shell.

Carvalho, J. P. R. de. Consideracdes Geraes sobre a Constituigao
Geologica do Alto-Douro. From D. Sharpe, Esq., F.G.S.

Dent, E. J. Treatise on the Aneroid Barometer.

Howard, Luke. ee parts 4 and 5. Edited by Z. W.
Brayley, jun., Esq., F.G.S

Humboldt, Alexandre de. Essai Politique sur le Royaume de la Nou-
velle-Espagne. 2 vols. and atlas. From Alfred Tyler, Esq., F.G.S.

Jerwood, James. A Lecture on the New Planet Neptune.
On some New Fossil Fish of the Carboniferous Period.

M‘Coy, F. On some New Ichthyolites from the Scotch Old Red
Sandstone.

On some New Mesozoic Radiata.

Oldham, Prof. Address at the Opening Meeting of the Geological
Society of Dublin, 1848.

Palfrey, J. G. Statistics of the Condition and Products of certain
Branches of Industry in Massachusetts. From Prof. H. D.
Rogers, For. M.G.S.

Phillips, John. Thoughts on Ancient Metallurgy and Mining in
Brigantia and other parts of Britain.

Ramsay, A. C. Passages in the History of Geology.

THE

QUARTERLY JOURNAL

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.

PROCEEDINGS

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

JANUARY 3, 1849.
The following communications were read :—

1. Notice on the Occurrence of Eocene Freshwater Shells at Brav-
LIEU, LANGLEY, e., in Hampsuire. By J. C. Moors, Esq.,
Secretary Geol. Soc.

Being lately in the neighbourhood of Beaulieu, on the eastern boun-
dary of the New Forest, I had opportunities of ascertaining that the
fluvio-marine beds of the Isle of Wight and of Hordwell Cliff extend
further eastward than has hitherto been noticed.

From the Beaulieu river to the Southampton Water, a distance of
about four miles, the country is a low flat moor covered with heather :
by following the coast from the mouth of the Beaulieu river to Eagle-
hurst, it will be seen that the lowest bed is a purplish clay covered
by a grey sandy clay, both of which are nearly concealed at high-
water ; on these repose yellow sands, interstratified with pebbly beds,
the whole being covered by a diluvium of flint shingle. The beds
rise gently to the west, and more perceptibly to the north.

The yellow sands are without fossils, but the clays in the following
localities contain them.

lst. On the west side of the Beaulieu river, between St. Leonard’s
and Bucklershard, I found casts of Lymneus longiscatus in a grey
clay, reposing on purple clay.

VOL. V.—PART I. Zz

316 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. __[Jan. 3,

2nd. Across the river, in a brick-field about one mile above Exbury,
I found fragments of shells in a similar grey clay, reposing on purple
clay.

3rd. Close to Beaulieu, on the east side of the river, in a brick-field,
I obtained the following section :—

Soil and diluvium; brown clay, 2 feet; sandy clay, 3 or 4 feet ;
yellow and light-coloured sand.

The sandy clay contained a seam, three or four inches thick, of very
perfect specimens of Cyrena obovata and Melania costata, together
with a few broken specimens of Cytherea incrassata and an Ostrea.
About a foot below this seam of shells was a very thin seam of broken
fragments of the same Ostrea and Cytherea.

4th. About one mile and a half eastward, near the village of
Langley, a brook running parallel to the Beaulieu river affords the
following section :—

Diluvium ; ferruginous clay, 2 or 3 inches; greenish clay with
vegetable impressions, 2 or 3 feet; sandy loam with vegetable im-
pressions; stiff clay without fossils, 6 or 7 feet; bed of nodules of
ferruginous clay containing casts of Lymneus longiscatus, Melania
costata, a Natica, Cyrena? and a Nucula? The lowest bed seen was
a greenish mar! with very perfect specimens of Cytherea incrassata.

5th. About half a mile to the north, on the same brook, I found
in an old marl-pit the same green marl with the Cytherea.

Still further east, about one mile and a half from Hythe, on the
road to Eaglehurst, a grey clay used for brick-making is seen covered
by a considerable depth of the yellow sand ; but I could not find any
fossils in it.

I suspect these fluvio-marine beds do not extend much further to
the north ; for on the opposite side of the Southampton Water, half
a mile below Netley Abbey, I found a low cliff consisting of grey sandy
clay with marly concretions like septaria, abounding in shells of the
genera Turritella, Corbula, Pecten, Pinna, Rostellaria’?, Fusus?,
Voluta’t, Pholadomya’, and no mixture of freshwater shells,—a
group which, by consulting Mr. Prestwich’s lists of fossils, seems to
belong to some part of the Bracklesham Bay series.

I have thought it worth while to mention the occurrence of these
fluvio-marine beds over this tract, as it might otherwise have been re-
ferred to the upper and middle bedsof the Bracklesham series, to which,
judging by Mr. Prestwich’s description, they have great resemblance.
Both consist of a series of yellow sands overlying purplish clay and
greenish sand: and as that geologist has shown that the lower and
middle divisions of the series come to the surface at Southampton
with a southerly dip, it might have been believed that the district to
the south, which I have tried to describe, was part of the middle and
upper members of that formation. The fossils, however, indicate
that these beds are higher in the series, and make it probable that
the upper Bracklesham beds crop out at some intermediate point ;
and of this there seem to be indications i in the marie beds near
Netley Abbey.

1849. ] WESTON ON THE GEOLOGY OF RIDGWAY. 317

2. Further Observations on the Geology of Ripagway near Wey-
mouTH. By Cuarues H. Weston, Esq., B.A., F.G.S.

[ Abstract. |

In his former paper on this subject* Mr. Weston endeavoured to
show the existence of the Hastings sand at Ridgway. He has since
visited the various sections of the Wealden between Hastings and
Lulworth, and then re-examined the railway cutting at Ridgway, and
the result has been to confirm his former views. He finds that the
variegated clays, loams and sands exhibited in the latter locality are
by no means local, but occur also in Kent, in the south of Sussex, in
the Isle of Wight and in Dorset ; and he has recently observed them
on the Brighton and London Railway near Balcombe. In Sussex
these variegated clays form a very subordinate part of the formation,
but are more developed in the counties to the west.

In his concise but masterly ‘Geological Sketch of the Vicinity of
Hastings,’ Dr. Fitton notices the “ greenish and purplish variegated
clay” and sand visible at Leaness Point, between Hastings and Win-
chelsea. They lie beneath a stratum which Mr. Webster describes
as a sandstone intersected by numerous veins of argillaceous iron ore,
and rest on a dark-coloured shale also containing several layers of
rich iron ore, formerly much worked in Sussex. 'These lowest shales
are placed by Dr. Mantell in the upper part of the Ashburnham
beds. Dr. Fitton also points out the anticlinal axis passing from
the shore near Leaness through the highest point of Fairlight Down
to Battle, the strata dipping away from it on both sides.

Mr. Weston has himself found similar ferrugmous and variegated
clays and sands in a hill beyond Ham Street on the Rye and Ashford
Railway, and near Hastings at Bopeep, west of St. Leonard’s, and at
Bexhill. He next found them at Sandown Bay in the Isle of Wight,
and also between Atherfield and Afton Downs. The clays contain
no fossils but the Cypris valdensis and Paludina in some associated
beds.

«The next appearance of the Hastings sand is at Swanage Bay
in Dorset, emerging from under the very steep escarpment of Ballard
Downs. The entire group was in this place more varied, and con-
sisted of a greater number of alternations of sands and clays than I
found in the Isle of Wight. It appeared in consequence to combine
in miniature the more extensively-developed arenaceous deposits of
Hastings and the almost exclusive argillaceous strata of the south-
west coast of the Isle of Wight.

«The variegated clays are identical with those of the latter and of
Ridgway. I could however discover no fossils in them.

«The Chalk Downs (of which Ballard Down forms the south-
eastern extremity) run across the Isle of Purbeck and terminate in
the fine bluff cliff of Purbeck Hill on the east of Lulworth. The
sections below Purbeck Hill are those of Worbarrow Bay on the east

* Quart. Geol. Journ. vol. iv. p. 245.
Z2

318 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. _[Jan. 3,

of the chalk and Mewp Bay on the west, of which I only visited the
former.

“The Hastings sands of Worbarrow Bay consist of a considerable
admixture of clays and sandstones. The latter appear to abound
here more than at Swanage Bay. The clays possess the peculiar cha-
racter and colours of those at Ridgway, but some of their colours
are rather more vivid. The colour of the sandstones, from the great
abundance of the ferruginous base, is in many places intense. I
could not discover any ‘organized remains in these clays. I think
no one who has examined this part of Dorset, and has traced the
base of the chalk escarpment from Ballard Down to Purbeck Hill,
can fail to be convinced of the correctness of Dr. Fitton’s view, and
to feel satisfied of the continuity of the Wealden formation right
across the peninsula of Purbeck.”

He next visited Lulworth Cove, where the general appearance of
the Hastings sand is similar to the localities we have already de-
scribed. Not far from this place is the last coast exhibition of the
Wealden formation in Man-of-War and Durdle Coves. These are
separated from each other by a short isthmus, which has been pro-
tected by a rock of greatly-inclined strata of Purbeck stone, and is
composed of the Wealden very condensely and vertically developed.
From this isthmus we see the eastern side of Man-of-War Cove,
which appeared evidently to consist of Hastings sand. That point
and the isthmus are clearly the remnants of a once continuous mass.
The west side of Durdle Cove is composed of chalk which here abuts
upon the sea, and runs uninterruptedly along the coast to the high
point of White Nore, whence it trends inland.

In all these sections the variegated clays, loams and sands were
identical in character with the Ridgway deposit. In this section,
which he visited the following day, Mr. Weston “traced the Purbeck
beds to their first uninterrupted termination, which consisted of cale
grit with Purbeck fossils. Beyond this were clays, and then alter-
nations of the cale grit and clays, and ultimately the Hastings bed
exclusively. This section therefore exhibits the same features which
Dr. Fitton has observed respecting other sections of the Wealden,
showing, Ist, the continuity and sequence in the deposition; and,
2ndly, the quiet process of such deposition. Hence we have the
most satisfactory evidence that the beds overlying the Purbeck fol-
lowed in regular succession, and were in fact rather a continuation of
them.”

On the whole Mr. Weston concludes not only that the variegated
clays of Ridgway Hill really belong to the Hastings sand formation,
but that their geognostic position is in the lowest part of the Worth
and Tilgate group, separating it from the inferior Ashburnham
beds.

Mr. Weston also mentions that he found the Purbeck deposits to
extend as far west as the end of the Corton Range, and therefore
spreading co-extensively with the Portland oolite to the vicinity of
Portisham.

In regard to the attempt to explain the singular interposition of

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Lens. Aldous, 4uic .

1849. | BOWERBANK ON A SILICEOUS ZOOPHYTE. 319

the Oxford clay between the Wealden and the cretaceous series as
resulting from a drift, he remarks :—

“Ist. That I could not perceive in the fossils those marks of
abrasion which would indicate their having been drifted.

* 2ndly. That the Oxford clay has considerable depth. It has
already been penetrated to the depth of about sixty feet without
reaching its termination.

“ 3rdly. That the vertical surface of the wall of chalk is hardly
consistent with the natural results of previous diluvial action in that
locality. And,

**4thly. In many places the theory of a drift may involve no phy-
sical difficulties. But at Ridgway this idea would involve serioas
objections. Whence, it might be asked, could the Oxford clay have
been drifted? The Oxford clay of Ridgway is about 200 feet above
that of Weymouth ; and the next exhibition of that bed on a higher
level would be at Little Bredy near Abbotsbury Common, at a di-
stance of between five and six miles, and at a level, I apprehend,
certainly far below that of Ridgway. Whatever difficulties may
therefore be supposed to attach to the theory which I have ventured
to propose, will not, I think, be diminished by the suggested explica-
tion of a drift. I have also satisfied myself by repeated and careful
examination that the section contains no double fault.”’

3. On a Siliceous Zoophyte, ALCYONITES PARASITICUM.
By J. S. Bowrersank, Ksq., F.R.S. G.S. &e.

PaRKINSON in his ‘Outlines of Oryctology’ has applied the term
Alcyonites to designate those fossils which were supposed to have
been polypiferous animals allied to the recent genus dleyonium. I
have therefore adopted that name as being the best designation of the
fosssil I am about to describe, although there is an objection to the
term from the very indefinite and promiscuous manner in which it
has been formerly used by authors; and Mr. Morris, possibly for the
same reason, has judiciously excluded it from his ‘ List of British Fos-
sils.’ However that may be, in the present case it is applied strictly
in accordance with the correct definition of the recent genus d/cy-
onium given by Dr. Johnston in the second edition of his excellent
and beautiful ‘ History of British Zoophytes.’

The fossil which forms the subject of this memoir is not in its
natural and unmutilated condition, but is a portion of the animal con-
tained in a small slab of agate 14 inch Jong by 1+ wide, such as are
commonly mounted in ladies’ brooches. I obtained it from a dealer
along with a considerable number of specimens of what are generally
designated as Moss Agates. It is represented of the natural size,
Plate VIII. fig. 1, and a fibre magnified 100 diameters by fig. 2.

320 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL socieTy. ([Jan. 3,

ALCYONITES PARASITICUM.

Polypidom fleshy, parasitic, incrusting, mammillated. Cells nume-
rous, protuberant, scattered. Polyp. Tentacula short, cylindrical,
smooth, tapering to an obscure point.

At the first view of the agate my attention was arrested by the
great size of the fibres contained within it, which vary from 3, to 5
of an inch in diameter, and on placing it beneath a microscopic power
of 100 linear, I was at once struck by their extraordinary hirsute
appearance.

The mass of the polypidom appears to have been of a fleshy tex-
ture, and semi-transparent like that of Aleyonidium gelatinosum of
our own coast. It is built around the fibres of a species of Verongia,
and the tubular fibres of the sponge are in many places in a beautiful
state of preservation. A portion of one of these is represented by
fig. 3. Plate VIII. Each fibre is not separately surrounded by the
fleshy substance and cells of the parasite, as would be the case if it
were a Gorgonia, but it often occurs that several fibres are included
within one circle of polyp cells, and the contained sponge fibres fre-
quently pursue a tortuous course, while the fleshy body of the Alcyo-
nite does not follow their contortions, but surrounds them in the
form of a large regular cylinder.

The surface of the polypidom presents a strongly mammillated or
tuberculated appearance. The mammille are not arranged in any
definite mode, but are scattered without order, thickly over the whole
of the surface. They vary in diameter from 71, to >4, of an inch,
and are usually elevated about half the amount of their own diameter
above the outer surface of the polypidom.

Within each of the mammille, at a depth of about a fourth part of
their own diameter, there is a somewhat irregularly-formed globular
cavity, and usually within this there is a single small opaque black
mass, which from its comparative size and uniformity has probably
been the remains of the gizzard of the polyp*.

The outer surface of the mammille is usually more or less semi-
globular, but it is frequently the case that its apex is flat and some-
what depressed in the centre, so that a section of it in the direction
of its axis would present three sides of a right-angled figure, having
the angles slightly rounded off and the centre of the upper line
slightly depressed. Under these conditions it resembles closely the
appearances presented by the polyp cells of the recent Aleyonium
digitatum of our own coast, when the polyps are in a semi-extruded
condition, and the semi-globular appearance would be the condition
of the recent polyp when still further withdrawn within their poly-
pidom. These states of the mammille of the fossil are represented by
fig. 4. Plate VIII.

It is possible that this mammillated appearance of the surface of the

* As the nature of this body cannot be determined with certainty, I have thought
it better to refer the animal to the established genus dlcyonites than to form a
new genus for its reception.

1849. |] BOWERBANK ON A SILICEOUS ZOOPHYTE. 321

polypidom is not its natural character, but has been induced by the
exhaustion and subsequent death of the animal, having prevented
their complete withdrawal within the polypidom.

Each of the mammillz is furnished with a number of smooth cylin-
drical tentacula averaging ,4, of an inch in length; their diameter
at the base is z,4;5 inch, and they decrease gradually thence to the
apex, terminating in a blunt poit. No portion of the surface of
the polypidom is furnished with these organs excepting the mam-
millze.

The tentacula present every appearance of perfectly flexible organs ;
no semblance of rigidity exists, but they are bent and curved in an
easy flowing manner in every possible form and direction.

The animal is similar in structure to Prof. Edward Forbes’s genus
Sarcodictyon, but it has not the regularity in the disposition of the
cells which exists in that genus.

In the tuberculated surface of the polypidom it much resembles
that of Sarcochitum polyoum; but the habit of the animal is exactly
that of Aleyonidium parasiticum of our own coast, specimens of which
I have frequently taken at Scarborough, surrounding the slender
stems of Sertularia and other zoophytes.

Nearly the whole of the animal within the agate is in a beautiful
state of preservation, but there are a few spots which present evidence
of the commencement of decomposition, by the detachment of groups
of cells from the mass of the polypidom; in these cases the remains
of the tentacles, as might be expected, are very rarely to be seen;
and the disrupted mass is totally without the sponge fibre.

The envelopment of a tooth, a bone, or of hard calcareous bodies
such as shells, afford no definite information regarding the time ne-
cessary to accomplish such an operation. The investment even of
such bodies as the rigid, endurable horny fibres of that tribe of sponges
which are usually to be observed imbedded in flints, cherts, and moss
agates, give also a considerable range of time to accomplish the fos-
silization ; but when we see such a soft and perishable substance as the
fleshy body of the living Aleyonidee, and such delicate organs as the ten-
tacula of the polyps, thus preserved with such evident appearances
of freshness and perfection, I own that it excites in me the greatest
astonishment that there should have been so rapid a deposit of sili-
ceous matter as must evidently have taken place, thus to entomb the
animal in such a condition as proves, that at the utmost but a few
days must have elapsed before it was so far incrusted as to completely
preserve the form and position of the animal, not by a sudden im-
mersion in supposititious siliceous paste impounding it instantly in its
full vigour, but after a slow and gradual decease ; for this condition
which I have described, of semi-protrusion of the tentacula, is that
with which every one acquainted with recent zoophytes in a living
condition, is so familiar as an indication of slow and undisturbed death
by exhaustion. In this condition of semi-protrusion I have seen the
animals of Aleyonium digitatum, Alcyonidium parasiticum, Caryo-
phyllea Smithu, and numerous species of Sertularia and other zoo-
phytes, die, if allowed to do so, without interference ; but if touched

322 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. ([Jan. 3,

or disturbed, the tentacula are slowly withdrawn and never again ex-
truded.

It does not appear to me to be necessary for the production of a
fossil that the whole of the silex should have been deposited imme-
diately. We may readily imagine that after the rapid deposition of
the first portion, mduced by the full exposure of the animal matter,
and the consequently strong elective attraction exerted by the animal
for the earthy particles, that the remainder of the deposit, the filling-
in of the interstices of the network, would be more slowly and regu-
larly completed in accordance with the laws of crystallization, as we
find that from the surface of this animal there are the same series of
crops of radiating calcedonic crystals that characterize the structure
of the great mass of the moss agates which I have described in my
paper on those bodies published in the ‘ Annals and Magazine of Na-
tural History,’ vol. x. page 9. This prismatic semi-crystallization, if
we may reason from analogies afforded by the phenomena of crystal-
lization displayed by salts formed by acids with earthy or metallic
bases, is a rapid and perhaps irregular operation, compared with the
slow formation of the regular and well-defined crystals of the respect-
ive substances under consideration, and which crystals are probably
produced without the interference of any other agent than that which
is necessary for their own construction. However that may be, it is
certainly quite a different operation from the merely mechanical de-
posit of the silex from the Geysers of Iceland or other such thermal
springs, the waters of which are charged with a considerable quantity
of the earth in solution. I have been favoured by Mr. C. C. Babington
with specimens of the silex deposited by the water of the Great Gey-
ser, which were procured by himself during a recent visit to Iceland,
and I have carefully examined and compared it with numerous speci-
mens of agates, cherts and flints, but this siliceous substance is not
like the latter bodies, formed in every instance more or less of fibrous
crystalline structure. Not a vestige of such an arrangement of its
particles could be discovered: it was purely amorphous, like a mass
of melted glass. In this form under some circumstances it is simply
a deposit arising from the evaporation of the water, and in other
cases it probably arises from the rapid disengagement of the excess
of carbonic acid in solution; in either case it is most probable that
the silex thus solidified would present only the glacial form of that
deposited by the Geysers; but if, on the contrary, the deposit be in-
duced by the modified and slow exertion of chemical affinity, then it is
probable that the silex would assume a form which approaches that
of its normal condition of crystallization ; and that this would be the
case is rendered most likely from the phenomena which we observe
in the crystallization of nitrate of potass and other salts during slow
evaporation beneath the microscope assisted by the apparatus for the
polarization of light.

If we view solutions of salts under these circumstances, we do not
observe the production of the crystals to be a slow and continuous
operation; on the contrary, they are produced suddenly andat intervals.
We observe a single long prismatic crystal rapidly produced before

1849.] BOWERBANK ON A SILICEOUS ZOOPHYTE. 323

the eye, as if the blade of a sword were deliberately passed through
the solution, and this under the influence of the polarizing apparatus
exhibits perhaps a uniform green colour according to the thickness
of the crystal; after this there is a cessation of action for a period,
and then another layer of the substance of the salt passes over the
surface of the crystal from its base to its summit, and it then becomes
as universally and vividly pink as the first layer was green, and thus
layer after layer is added and the colours continue to alternate until
the action ceases.

Within the boundaries of the fossilized body of the Aleyonium
there are no appearances of crystalline arrangement, but it is im-
mediately on, or slightly without the outer surface, that the first
crop of crystals is based, and the succeeding one follows from the
apices of the first, and so on, crop succeeding crop, until the inter-
vening spaces are entirely filled up. Sometimes the force of the
projected crystals has been sufficient to thrust before them a con-
siderable quantity of the substance of the organic matter im course of
fossilization, which is finally crushed into a dense mass between the
opposed crops of crystals, when their apices meet. Such is frequently
seen to be the case in masses of fossilized wood, both siliceous and
calcareous, and the force exerted by crystallization is evidently for-
ward, and in no case that I have seen is it backward ; for the tissues
at the bases of the respective crops of crystals show not the slightest
evidences of compression, while the cellular and vascular structures,
at the junction of the opposed bodies of crystals, exhibit every
evidence of having been forcibly driven forward, and finally com-
pressed into a solid opaque mass, affording only sufficient evidence
of structure to be certain of the nature of the material.

These phzenomena, it will be observed, accord with the mode of
the production of prismatic crystallization which I have described as
occurring beneath the microscope ; thus rendering it highly probable
that the calcedonic crystallization of silex is an operation achieved in
very much less time than may have been imagined.

After a period, the tendency to produce crops of calcedonic crystals
appears to cease, and hollow spaces remain, which are completely
bounded by the apices of the last crop of crystals ; and these spaces,
and the cessation of prismatic crystallization, are probably produced
by the complete exclusion of further portions of silex in solution:
but at other times, in lieu of the spaces, we find a solid mass of
regular crystals of quartz; and in this case it is probable that the
surrounding fluid, holding silex in solution, had access to the cavity,
formed by the apices of the last crop of calcedonic crystals, through
some minute opening, so that a continuous but slow change of the
fluid took place in accordance with the laws of endosmose, as soon as
the silex was deposited within.

These views, regarding the deposit of silex in solution, are to a con-
siderable extent confirmed by an interesting fact communicated to me
by my friend Mr. Warren De la Rue, who found minute crystals of
silex deposited on the inner surface of a phial, which contained the
residuum of an analysis in which there remained some of that earth
in solution.

324 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SocIETy. [Jan. 3,

On examining these crystals by a microscopic power of 500 linear,
I was much interested on finding that not only were regular crystals
of silex present, but that the calcedonic form of deposit was also
apparent in the form of filmy plates, composed of two and sometimes
three distinct crops of the characteristic acicular erystals of that form
of deposit *.

We are familiar with the solid condition of silex, as it exists in
masses where the deposit has been induced by the presence of organic
matters, as well as in those in which the influences are purely mineral,
as in the agates of the igneous rocks; but in both cases to a certain
extent the phenomena are identical, as far as regards the caleedonized
portions of the masses. In the first instance, the solidified and en-
cased organic matters form the nuclei whence the first crops of
crystals sprmg. In the second, the parietes of perhaps an accidental
cavity in the mass of the igneous rock, furnishes a base for a similar
crop of crystals ; and subsequently, in both cases, the deposit appears
to progress uninfluenced by any other agencies than what are in ac-
cordance with those which are purely mineralogical.

But whence, it may be asked, come the enormous quantities of
silex, which have entered into the structure of fossils durmg every
geological period, and which still continue to be separated from the
ocean? Various opinions have been offered to account for these
phenomena, such as extreme heat, great pressure, thermal springs,
and a peculiar gelatinous condition of silex, produced by chemical
manipulation, but of which we have no authentic record in nature.

None of these, it appears to me, satisfactorily account for the vast
deposits of silex that we have to deal with in connection with organic
matter. Great pressure and high temperature, there is no doubt, are
active agents in promoting the solution of silex in excess, with which
some chemical springs are charged, and these causes are perhaps
powerfully effective in the formation of certain mineral products in

+ 7 St. Mary’s Road, Canonbury, June 10, 1848.

My dear Sir,—-Your having mentioned to me that you are at present engaged
on some investigations respecting the deposition of silica in a crystalline form, has
recalled to my mind a fact which I observed some time since, and now venture to
communicate to you in the hope of its proving of interest in connection with your
researches.

You are aware that the gaseous body fluoride of silicon (Si F3) is decomposed by
contact with water, one-third of the silicic acid being deposited in the form of a
jelly, and silicated hydrofluoric acid (3 H F+2 Si F3) produced; thus 3 (Si F3)+
3 (HO) =Si O3 (which deposits) +3 H F+2 Si F3; (which remains in solution).

The deposited silicic acid is extremely soluble in water, and I have observed
that the separated silicated-hydrofluoric acid always retains a portion of uncom-
bined silicic acid in solution ; this deposits after the lapse of some months in minute
crystals of artificial quartz. The specimen I now send you was thus obtained: the
crystals vary in size from the one nine-hundredth of an inch to the one seventy-
fifth of an inch in length (from °00111 in. to -01333 in.) ; they depolarize light, and
form a very beautiful microscopic object.

The case just cited is precisely analogous to those you were mentioning to me;
in all, water is the solvent of the silica, which, when recently produced or separated
from its combinations by the action of the atmosphere on the earthy silicates, is
presented in the modification favourable for solution.

I remain, my dear Sir, very truly yours,
James Scott Bowerbank, Esq., Warren De 1a RvE.
&e. &e. &e.

1849. ] BOWERBANK ON A SILICEOUS ZOOPHYTE. 325

the interior of the earth; but as regards the supply of silex in the
production of fossils, and in its appropriation by living organisms, I
believe them to have infinitely less to do with these pheenomena than
has hitherto been supposed.

Modern chemistry has shed much light upon this subject, and has
shown us that silex is very much more soluble than was formerly
supposed. It has taught us that most sandstones contain, mixed
with them, silicates with alkaline bases ; and that in the decomposition
of granite, porphyry, and other similar rocks, vast quantities of soluble
silicates are liberated and poured into the ocean in solution; and
thus, although in unappreciable quantities, silex must necessarily exist
in sea-water.

For many years chemistry failed to demonstrate the existence of
iodine in sea-water; but as the science advanced, it was found by
Dr. G. Schweitzer, in his analysis of sea-water from the British
Channel, published in the ‘Philosophical Magazine’ for 1839 *,
that it did exist m it, although in so minute a degree as to form
not more than one-millionth of its bulk in a given quantity; and
this fact, from the peculiar qualities of the substance, was readily
demonstrable. But the same peculiar qualities do not exist in silex,
and its presence, although probably in greater proportional quantities,
cannot be rendered apparent by any chemical test that is at present
known to science; but that it does exist in sea-water is evident from
the vast quantities of siliceous infusorial animalcules, which can
derive, from no other imaginable source, the material with which
they construct their cells. These minute and interesting creatures
exist by myriads in the ocean in all quarters of the globe, forming no
inconsiderable portion of the food of conchiferous mollusks, whence
they are conveyed into the stomachs of fishes, which becoming in
turn the prey of sea-birds, are thence conveyed by them and deposited
in their excrements on rocks and islands, where amidst the guano
they are found in a beautiful and perfect state of preservation. Vast
quantities of them are also found attached to fuci and zoophytes,
and I have them in this condition from the shores of Africa, Australia,
Japan, China, and various parts of Europe. It is evident therefore,
from the universal prevalence of these minute animals, that silex not
only existed in former geological periods in solution in the waters of
the ancient seas, but that it also exists in solution in all parts of the
seas of the present period; and however minute and unappreciable
the quantity may be to the science of chemistry, it is yet sufficiently
large to admit of its continual secretion by the countless myriads of
living creatures that need it for their protection and support.

If it be not so, what becomes of the enormous quantities of soluble
silicates that are continually poured into the ocean by the decompo-
sition of feldspar, granite, porphyry, and other similarly constituted
minerals? Moreover it is a fact satisfactorily established by modern
chemists, that these silicates are readily retained in solution by the

* Vol. xv. p. 51. I have since been informed, that previously to this date
iodine had been noticed in sea-water from the Mediterranean by Balard, and in
that of the Baltic by Pfaff.

326 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SocigeTy. [Jan. 3,

presence of carbonic acid, a material which is known always to exist
in sea-water. And so powerful is the effect of the presence of this
acid when in contact with the silicates, that it was found by Poltorf
and Wiegmann, that sand might be boiled in a mixture of nitric and
muriatie acids, and then thoroughly washed, and yet after this purifi-
cation, when left for thirty days immersed in water saturated with
carbonic acid, the water was found to contain in solution, silica, car-
bonate of potass, ime, and magnesia; thus proving beyond a doubt
the power of carbonic acid alone sufficient to take up and retain in
solution this hitherto supposed to be insoluble earth*.

The continued attrition of the material of every beach throughout
the world must necessarily also be reducing enormous quantities of
silex to the state of impalpable powder, or into such a state of com-
minution as to render it soluble under favourable circumstances ; and
we know that in the state of extreme division, arising from precipita-
tion by chemical action, it is readily soluble even in cold fresh water,
containing no more than the usual quantity of carbonic acid.

The facility with which silex is held m solution under ordinary
circumstances, is equally well proved by every corn-field that we pass
through, in the well-known abundance of it secreted in the stalks of
the plants. The rain-water no sooner permeates the soil, than it
becomes charged with a sufficiency of that earth to afford the material
for the secretion of a considerable coating of silex, by this as well as
many other similar plants.

Thus it has ever been during our geological periods, and if we may
judge by the similarity of the pheenomena of fossilization, throughout
a long series of geological formations from the Silurian upwards.

It is not only im plants and in the Spongiadee that these deposits
of silica have taken place ; it is almost equally abundant in the fossil
Corallidee. Everything organic appears to have an active affinity for
silex in solution, and no sooner have the waters of the ocean, or other
agents, removed the carbonate of lime from shells, than the animal
matter thus released from combination is immediately seized upon by
the silex. It is thus im the oolites, the cretaceous groups, and in the
clays of the tertiaries also; for as perfectly silicified shells are found
in the London clay as can be obtained even from the greensand for-
mation. Nor is it surprising that this should be the case, when we
see that such delicate and ephemeral organs as the tentacula of
polyps are invested with silex in so rapid and perfect a manner, as
we observe to be the case in the polypiferous fossil that I have just
described.

With these great sources continually in action in all parts of the
world, liberating enormous quantities of soluble silicates, and the well-
established soluble powers of carbonic acid, we may be content to
throw aside the supposititious source of the gelatinous condition of
silex,—to dispense even with thermal springs and high pressure in the

* [ have learned since this paper was read, that Forchhammer has found silex
in solution in sea-water, to the amount of 0°003, and that it has been detected by
Pagenstecher in the water of the Aar, near Berne, and of the Rhine at Basle (see
Berzelius’s Jahresbericht).

1849. | BOWERBANK ON A SILICEOUS ZOOPHYTE. 327

formation of siliceous fossils, and content ourselves in endeavouring
to comprehend the mysteries of these natural phenomena, by the
agency of the laws in continual operation, and with the ordinary
amount of pressure in the depths of the ocean around us. We see
that animals have the power of quietly effecting within their tissues,
that which in the operation of fossilization is effected by a species of
attraction, which, for want perhaps of a more accurate knowledge of
these natural operations, we designate elective attraction.

May not this attraction of organic matter for silex, so abundantly
displayed throughout the whole field of geological science, shed some
light on the chemistry of animal and vegetable assimilation or secre-
tion? The laws of endosmose are continually equalizing the densities
of the fluids within the cells of animals and vegetables ; and if the
views I have stated be correct, there needs in livmg animals, as well
as in dead ones, but that the earth in solution should be brought in
contact with organic surfaces under certain conditions, with which we
are but very imperfectly acquainted, to be deposited upon the parietes
of the cells or other organs into which the fluid has insinuated itself ;
layer after layer is then deposited, until the whole of the minute
cavities are filled up. If we examine the structure of shells as ex-
hibited in the prismatic cells of Pinna, Ostrea, and other allied genera,
we always find the earthy deposits in the form of successive layers
from the circumference to the centre. Such also is the form of
deposit in both the siliceous and calcareous spicula of recent sponges ;
so it is also in bone and in every similar organic tissue with which I
am acquainted. And such also is the form of deposit of silex, car-
bonate of lime, and pyrites, m the cellular and vascular tissues of
fossils ; and in no case is it better displaved than in the cells of many
of the succulent fruits of the London clay, where we find their walls
remaining in the form of thin films of carbon; upon the inner sur-
faces of these are deposited successive layers of pyrites; but the
deposit is frequently found to have been arrested after several of these
depositions, thus leaving the centre of each cell empty, and then we
find the inner surface of the last coating of pyrites usually covered
with a beautiful crop of minute crystals. It is the same in the
fossilization of the Spongiadee : in the substance of the animal matter
there is no evidence of crystallization, and it is only at a short distance
from each fibre that the radiating crystalline needles of the calcedonic
form of deposit are seen to spring, and crop after crop succeeds each
other, until the whole of the intervening spaces are filled.

Much weight has been attached by some writers to the probability
of the spicula of the Spongiade acting as nuclei for the attraction of
silex in the process of their fossilization ; but it is a remarkable fact
that the true Halichondria, in which the siliceous spicula abound, are
exceedingly rare in a fossil state ; while the remains of true Spongia,
in which the animal fibre predominates, are very abundant. And
moreover, whenever I have found the siliceous spicula preserved, they
have always exhibited considerable erosion of the surface, as if they
were very much more amenable to the action of the solvents to which
they had been exposed, than to the chemical affinity of their kindred

328 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 17,

molecules in solution. The spicula so abundant in the greensand of
Maidstone and its neighbourhood, and in the fossil sponges of Wilt-
shire, are never in an unaltered condition; their surface is always
more or less eroded, and sometimes, in parts, nearly eaten through,
by the solvent action of the water and carbonic acid; and I have
never yet seen an instance in which a detached spiculum has formed
the nucleus for a crop of the radiating crystals of the calcedony, but
[ have frequently found detached sponge fibres under such circum-
stances; and as we observe them when imbedded in the masses of
flint or agate, the deposit most frequently assumes the form of a se-
ries of distinct centres of crystallization. Fig. 5. Pl. VIII. represents
one of these cases from the interior of a flint, and in this instance the
deposit has been arrested, and we therefore have the first crops of
the crystals covering the fibre in such a form as to give it completely
a moniliform aspect.

If the views which I have endeavoured to establish in this and my
former papers on these subjects be correct, we may justly consider
the attractive power of organic matter for silex, as one of the great
agents established by nature for the consolidation of the soluble sili-
cates, liberated and dispersed through the ocean by the gradual decom-
position of the compound mineral masses which form the crust of the
globe. Vast as these decomposing masses may be, the process ap-
pears to be so slow and modified as to render the results as regards
the silex scarcely if at all appreciable in the waters of the great rivers,
through the means of which it is poured into the ocean; and how-
ever continuous the supply, it is evident that the rapidity and ex-
tent of the process of fossilization and of animal assimilation are
amply sufficient to preserve that wise and beautiful equilibrium,
which is apparent throughout nature in everything connected with
the decomposition and reconstruction of both animal and mineral
forms.

JANUARY 17, 1849.
The following communication was then read :—

On the Geological Structure of the Aurs, APENNINES and CaR-
PATHIANS, more especially to prove a transition from Secondary
to Tertiary rocks, and the development of Eocene deposits in
SouTHERN Europe. Part II. By Sir RopEericx Impey Mur-
CHISON, F.R.S. G.S. L.S., Hon. Mem. R.S. Ed., R.I. Ac., Mem.
Imp. Ac. Sc. St. Pet., Corr. Mem. Ac. France, Berlin, Turin,
&e. &e.

[Printed with Part I. in No. 19 of the Journal, p. 157, above. ]

1849. | EGERTON ON THE GENUS PLATYSOMUS. 329

JANUARY 31, 1849.
The following communications were read :—

1. Description of Remains of Fossil Reptiles from the Greensand
Formation of New Jersey. By Prof. Owen, F.R.S., F.G.S. &e.
[See an Abstract of this Paper, p. 380.]

2. Palichthyologic Notes. No. %.—On the Affinities of the Genus

Pratysomus. By Sir Puitie Grey Ecerron, Bart., M.P.,
F.R.S.

Some of the earliest writers on Paleeontology were acquainted with
the Petrified Fishes not uncommonly found in the Kupferschiefer of
Mansfeld and its vicinity, on which Agassiz established his genus
Platysomus. Figures are given of these fishes under the name of
Rhombus diluvianus major and minor, by Wolfart *, Scheuchzer +,
Knorr and Walch f, and others. More recently De Blainville and
Germar have described them, assigning them, in consequence of their
deep and flattened forms, to the genus Stromateus§. Agassiz satis-
fied himself that this determination, founded on outward characters,
unaccompanied. by structural coincidences, could not stand ||; at the
same time the unusual combination of this form of body with a hete-
rocerqual tail and other anatomical peculiarities evidently raised
doubts in his mind as to the true position and affinities of the genus].
Mr. King of Newcastle-on-Tyne has recently submitted to me a speci-
men of Platysomus macrurus from the magnesian limestone of Ferry
Hill, which clears up the obscurity that has hitherto enveloped the
subject, and proves from ;

the characters of the denti- Fig. 1.

tion that this genus should
be removed from the Lepi-
doidei to the Pyenodonti.
The dentary portion of the
lower jaw, as shown by this
specimen, fig. 1, is a dense
triangular bone, very similar
to the Pycnodont jaws found
at Stonesfield and elsewhere.
Two rows of teeth are seen,
the outer one composed of
eight or nine small tritores,
the inner one containing five
considerably larger than the
. outer ones. The teeth are all clavate in form. The crown is cir-
cular, slightly flattened on the grinding surface, and mounted on a
pedestal of smaller diameter. Immediately beneath the crown is a
deep constriction, beyond which the enamelloid coating of the tooth

* Wolfart (Peter), Historia naturalis Hassiz inferioris, pars i. tabs. 13, 14.
ft Scheuchzer, Piscium Querele, tab. 4.

~ Knorr and Walch, vol. i. pl. 20.

§ Nouv. Dict. d’Histoire Nat. vol. xxviii. p. 18.

|| Poiss. Foss. vol. ii. part 1. p. 161. q Ibid. p. 162.

330 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 31,

does not extend. No incisor teeth are visible, but it is probable,
from the prominence of the anterior angle of the jaws, that they were
furnished with teeth of more elongated form than those constituting
the masticatory apparatus.

Having thus obtained a clue to the natural affinities of this genus,
I was agreeably surprised to find, on a close comparison with the other
members of the Pycnodont family, how closely they are allied both in
form and structural details. Unwilling, however, to rely entirely on
my own judgement in this matter, I communicated the facts to Pro-
fessor Agassiz, and received from him the following corroboration of
my views which I give in his own words :—‘“‘I quite agree with you
in the propriety of combining the genus Platysomus with the Pyc-
nodonts ; for some time past I had, indeed, been impressed with the
great difference there is between that genus and the others of the
family in which it stands, and I now feel that my only reason for
putting it there was the heterocerqual form of tail, a character which
could not fail to produce a vivid impression upon my mind when first
discevered, but which I now expect to find in fishes of various fami-
lies in the oldest geological ages, as well as everywhere in the youngest
state of our actual fishes in their embryonic growth. The teeth, as
you mention, are conclusive evidence for placing Platysomus with the
Pycnodonts. Let me now point out to you another evidence of this
relation in the form of the skeleton, especially of the apophyses before
the dorsal. The specimens of Platysomus in the museum in Munich
show some good portions of the skeleton, and in my mind I can now
compare them to the skeleton of the small Pycnodus rhombus*,
without detecting any difference. Pray institute the comparison upon
a safer ground than recollection, and let me know what you find.
You know under what circumstances the fossil fishes have been
worked out, and as a matter of course I must expect to see daily
important additions made to the edifice of which I have laid only the
foundation.” -

I had not neglected the important comparison above alluded to,
and the result proved that the correspondence between the anatomical
details of Platysomus, Gyrodus and Microdon is very remarkable.
The peculiar features described by Agassiz as ‘‘ apophyses before the
dorsal’’ obtain in Platysomus as in the other Pycnodonts, but whereas
in the genus Pycnodus they are restricted to the area in advance of
the dorsal fin, in Platysomus and Gyrodus they extend over the hinder
portion of the body. As to the nature of these so-called apophyses,
I have arrived at a conclusion at variance with that advocated by
Agassiz, and consider them as belonging to the tegumeutary invest-
ment of the fish, rather than to the internal skeleton. It is scarcely |
necessary to repeat the minute and accurate description of these bones,
given in the article in the ‘ Poissons Fossiles’ on the genus Pycnodus,
as they must be familiar to every student of this branch of Paleeon-
tologyt+. The conclusion Agassiz draws is, that he considers them as
the analogues of the V-shaped bones in the Clupeide. My reasons
for differing from this great authority are these :—First, they are

* Poiss. Foss. vol. ii. tab. 72. f. 5-7. + Ibid. vol. ii. pt. 2. p. 183.

1849.} EGERTON ON THE GENUS PLATYSOMUS. 331

not restricted to the dorsal region of the fish, but extend uninter-
ruptedly from the back to the belly, external to the vertebral column
and apophyses. Secondly, they are continuous with, not articulated
to, the external spines or scales before the dorsal fin. The dermal
system of the Pyenodonts is very peculiar. Hach scale bears upon
its inner anterior margin a thick solid bony rib, extending upwards
beyond the limits of the scale, and sliced off obliquely above and
below, on opposite sides, for forming splices with the corresponding
processes of the adjoining scales*. These splices are so closely ad-
justed, that without a magnifying power or an accidental dislocation
they are not perceptible. When i sctu and seen internally these con-
tinuous lines decussate with the true vertebral apophyses, and cause
the regular lozenge-shaped pattern so characteristic of the Pyenodont
family+. In all the species of Platysomus these structural peculiari-
ties obtain to their fullest extent, corroborating the evidence already
alluded to of the masticatory organs, in favour of the removal of the
genus from the Heterocerque Lepidoids to the Pycnodonts. The
explanation I have ventured to advocate as to the true nature of the
enigmatical bones designated by Agassiz “‘apophyses,’’ is shown to
be correct as to the genera Gyrodus and Microdon by several perfect
specimens of the former genus in my cabinet, which I owe to the
kindness of the late Count Minster, and by a fine example of Micro-
don radiatus in the Hunterian collection. There is more difficulty
with the genus Pycnodus, for in this the scales are much thinner
than in the other members of the family, and the articulating
border more delicate; the latter feature is nevertheless generally
preserved, even when the other portions of the scales are wanting,
and has great resemblance to a vertebral apophysis, more especially
when slightly crushed, for then the compound nature of the bone is
undistinguishable. Its real dermal character may, however, generally
be ascertamed by examining the impressions of the inner surfaces of
the scales of the opposite flank. If it be true then that these bones
form part of the cuticular investment and not of the internal skeleton,
we have still the difficulty of explaining how it happens that this
peculiar structure is restricted in some species to the anterior region
of the body, while in others it extends to the insertion of the tail.
It cannot be attributed to any imperfection of the specimens, for the
scalpel of the most skilful zootomist could scarcely exhibit more
beautiful dissections than Nature has placed before us in the Pyc-
nodonts of Kelheim, Torre d’Orlando and Monte Bolea. The only
solution I can suggest is this, that whereas in some recent fishes we
find a stiff and rigid body furnished with a flexible tail, so a like
compensation may have obtained among some of the denizens of the
more ancient seas. Of the fossil Pycnodonts already known, the
Platysomi, Gyrodi, Microdon hexagonust and Microdon analis§
have the scales uniform, while Microdon elegans|| and Microdon

* Poiss. Foss. tabs. 68, 69. figs. 2, 3. + Ibid. vol. ii. tab. 67.
¢ Ibid. vol. ii. tab. 69c. figs. 4 & 5. § Ibid. vol. ii. tab. 69°. fig. 3.
\| Ibid. tab. 69».

VOL. V.—PART I. pe."

332 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 3],

radiatus* agree with the Pyenodi in the limitation of the articulated
scales to the anterior part of the body. I am inclined to consider
this character of generic value ; and I find it associated with other
peculiarities in the position and form of the fins and tail, which
suggest the propriety of adding Microdon hexagonus and Microdon
analis to the genus Gyrodus. Count Minster has described a Pye-
nodont jaw found by Herr Althaus in the Kupferschiefer at Richels-
dorf, which he named Globulodus elegans+. In alluding to this
genus Agassiz says that it is probably founded on the dentition of
the genus Platysomus{, a surmise which is proved by Mr. King’s
specimen of Platysomus macrurus to be perfectly correct. The
genus Globulodus must therefore be cancelled. It is probable from
the small size of the oral aperture and the character of the dentition,
that the Platysomi fed either on marine plants or on small shell-fish
or zoophytes, and we trace in their dense tegumentary investment a
kind of scale-armour to protect them against the aggressions of the
Acrolepides and Pygopteri and other voracious Sauroids with which
they co-existed ; but that even this protection did not always avail is
substantiated by the fact, that the Globulodus jaw of Count Min-
ster was discovered in a Coprolite !!

3. On Neritoma, a fossil genus of Gasteropodous Mollusks allied
to Nerita. By Joun Morris, Esq., F.G.S.

AmongG the fossil shells of the oolite hitherto referred to Nerita,
there occurs a small group presenting characters of sufficient im-
portance to justify their being separated, not only as a distinct section
of the genus, but as forming a different generic type, probably be-
longing to the same family, for which I propose the name Neritoma.

The peculiar character to which I allude is, in the outer lip (which
in all the typical Nerite is entire) having two more or less deep
sinuses, probably corresponding to a particular organization in the
animal inhabitant; the form of the aperture and the columellar lip
are also distinct from those of Nerita, and do not approximate it to
any other described genus.

The above-mentioned characters of this genus,—certainly allied to
Nerita, although aberrant from it,—are interesting under two points
of view: first, as connecting the true Nerites with Amphibola, Schum.
(Ampullacera, Quoy), also an aberrant form of Ampullaria and
Natica; and secondly, as adding another instance to certain genera of
Mollusca, which with analogous forms present a similar character in
having a greater or less sinus in the outer lip. In this latter respect,
Neritoma bears the same relation to Nerita, as the other genera first
mentioned in the following list do to their respective analogous forms.

* Poiss. Foss. tab. 69°. figs. 1 & 2.
tT Beitrage, &c. pt. 5. p. 47. pl. 15. fig. 7.
} Poiss. Foss. vol. ii. pt. 2. p. 203.

1849. ] MORRIS ON NERITOMA. 333

Genera in which the outer lip has

———— * aa}

A greater or less sinus. No sinus.
Neritoma. Nerita.
Amphibola. Ampullaria.
Clithon. Neritina.
Platychisma. Trochus.
Pleurotomaria. Trochus.
Acroculia. Pileopsis.
Pleurotoma. Fusus.
Murchisonia. Cerithium.
Emarginula. Patella.

In consulting the above table of the two groups, it will be remarked
that most of those forms furnished with a sinus belong to extinct
genera: thus Acroculia, Murchisonia, Platychisma, are found in the
paleeozoic series, Pleurotomaria and Neritoma in the secondary strata,
Pleurotoma in the tertiary and also recent.

TRACHELIPODA, Lam.
Family Néritacés, Lam.
NERITOMA.

Testa ventricosa, crassiuscula, leeviuscula, epidermide induta, non
umbilicata, spira brevi obtusa; anfractibus subcarinatis, ultimo
ventricoso ; apertura subovali, obliqua; labro acuto, bisinuato ;
labio incrassato, planulato, superné canalifero, non denticulato nec
crenulato ; impressione musculari elongato-ovata.

A ventricose and moderately thick shell, nearly smooth, or merely
marked by the lines of growth, having a slightly elevated spire and
three or four subangular volutions ; not umbilicated ; aperture ovately
oblong, outer lip thin, sharp and bisinuate, with one angular sinus
towards the middle of the shell corresponding to the carina and a
rounded sinus near the base; inner lip broad, flat, and thickened,
slightly depressed in the middle, and not crenulated nor denticulated.

The above characters sufficiently distinguish this genus from Nerita,
in which also the imer lip is much less confluent with the outer one
than in Neritoma. 'The flattened and expanded columellar lip, and
not being umbilicate, remove it from Amphibola.

From Neritopsis, which connects Nerita with Natica, it is separated
by the above-mentioned characters, as well as in not having a deeply
notched inner lip, as in that genus. If with Dr. Grateloup and
M. Pictet we exclude Natica as belonging to a distinct family, the
Néritacés will be neatly limited to the following genera: Navicella,
Pileolus, Nerita, Neritina, Neritopsis, and Neritoma.

The species belonging to Neritoma have at present only been
found in the oolite. The shell from which the above generic descrip-
tion was formed, was obtained by Mr. Lowe from the upper beds of
the Portland series, at Swindon, Wilts. This specimen is interesting,
as exhibiting distinctly the coloured marking upon the surface.

2A2

334 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. (Jan. 31,

NERITOMA SINUOSA.

Nerita, Sow. 1821, Min. Con. t. 217. f. 2.
Nerita angulata, Sow. 1836, Geol. Trans. vol. iv. t. 23. f. 2.

Testa ventricosa, subleevi, fuscescente, spira abbreviaté, obtusa, an-
fractibus quatuor convexiusculis, ultimo obtusé carinato, superné
depresso, apertura oblonga.

A rather thick and ventricose shell with a slightly elevated and
obtuse spire, the last volution cariated about the middle, the carina
terminating in the shallow sinus at the edge of the outer lip. The
surface is nearly smooth, although in some specimens the lines of
growth are well-defined, and become more prominent as the shell
approaches the adult state.

This species was first noticed by Mr. Sowerby, sen., as Nerita
simuosa in the ‘ Mineral Conchology,’ where its peculiar characters
are carefully described, from a specimen collected by Miss Benett at
Chilmarsh, near Tisbury, Wilts.

A cast of this species was subsequently described by Mr. J. D. C.
Sowerby, in Dr. Fitton’s Memoir*, under the name of Nerita an-
gulata, from specimens obtained at Swindon, Wilts, where in the
state of casts this species is generally very abundant.

Locality, Swindon, and near Tisbury, Wilts, in the Portland oolite.

NERITOMA BISINUATA.

Nerita, Buvignier, Statistique Minéralogique et Géologique du
Département des Ardennes, p. 535. t. 5. fig. 12, 13.

Testa globosa, subleevi, spira depressé, obtusa, ultimo anfractu
carinato, ad suturam canaliculato, apertura ovali vel semicirculari.

A ventricose shell with somewhat angular volutions, marked by
the lines of growth, and a depressed spire. The last whorl has a
slight furrow at the suture. The aperture is nearly semicircular ;
the sinus at the edge of the aperture, corresponding to the carina, is
narrow and deep in the adult stage, and only faintly marked in the
young shell. M. Buvignier in the description of this species remarks,

* “ Observations on some of the strata between the Chalk and Oxford Oolite,”
Geol. Trans. vol. iv. p. 347.

1849. | DAWSON ON THE GYPSUM OF PLAISTER COVE. 339

that it is with doubt he places this shell under Nerita; the double
sinus appearing to indicate particular organs, which are not possessed
by the animals of that genus. In breaking some specimens, M.
Buvignier has also observed a depression under the columella, similar
to that which receives the apophysis of the operculum of the Nerites.

Locality, Launois and Vieil-Saint-Remy, Ardennes, in the upper
beds of the Oxford clay.

FEBRUARY 21, 1849.
The following communications were read :—

1. Notice of the Gypsum of PLatsTER Cove in the STRAIT OF
Canseau. By J. W. Dawson, Esq.

[Communicated by the President. ]

THE Strait of Canseau is a narrow passage fourteen miles in length,
separating Nova Scotia proper from Cape Breton Island. On the
Nova Scotia side it affords an imperfect section of carboniferous
strata, interrupted near the middle of the Strait by a mass of reddish
syenite and disturbed slates, forming the promontory of Cape Por-
cupine, which is the abrupt termination of a hilly range extending
far into Nova Scotia. On the Cape Breton side, the section exhibits
carboniferous rocks ; and nearly opposite Cape Porcupine is the small
indentation, whose name of Plaister Cove is derived from the mass of
gypsum to which the following remarks refer.

The gypsum of Plaister Cove, like other large masses of that rock
occurring in this province, belongs to the lower part of the carbo-
niferous system, and is associated with limestone and marls. The
structure and accompaniments of the bed are, however, more perfectly
exposed than in most of the larger masses of gypsum which I have
examined. For this reason I shall endeavour, with the aid of the
accompanying section fig. 1, and specimens, to give a somewhat de-
tailed view of the appearances presented at this place, with the object
of recording facts which may be useful in explaining the origin of
the great beds of gypsum.

Figs 1.

Coast Section at Plaister Cove.

Head of
PlaisterCove.

=e
(=)

NANA
ie) 8

}. Hard grey conglomerate. 2. Aiternations of hard sandstone and grey shale. 3. Limestone.
4. Marl. 5. Gypsum. 6. Gypseous limestone. 7. Marl. 8. Dark shales with calcareous bands,
9. Brown and grey sandstone and shale.

aay Ss

(1.) At M°Millan’s Point, about three-quarters of a mile north of

336 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 21,

the Cove, are thick beds of grey conglomerate, in a vertical position.
These beds form the base of the carboniferous system in this district ;
and, at a short distance inland, they have been invaded by trap and
other igneous rocks, belonging to a great line of igneous disturbance
extending to the north-eastward. The conglomerates near M‘Millan’s
Point have been thrown up along an anticlinal line connecting the
igneous range last mentioned with that of Cape Porcupine, on whose
flanks the same conglomerates appear. The valley now occupied by
the Strait is in great part due to the want of continuity of the igneous
masses at this point; though the distribution of the surface detritus
shows that it has been subsequently deepened by diluvial waves or
currents from the northward.

(2.) Between M°Millan’s Pot and Plaister Cove, the shore is
occupied by black and grey shales and very hard sandstones, in fre-
quent alternations. The sandstones have been much altered by heat,
and are traversed by veins of white carbonate of lime, sometimes mixed
with sulphate of barytes. At the point immediately north of Plaister
Cove, these beds dip at a high angle to the south-eastward.

(3.) Overlying these beds is a bed of limestone about 30 feet in
thickness; it is of a dark colour, laminated and subcrystalline ;
its laminee are in some parts corrugated and slightly attached to each
other, and in other places flat and firmly coherent; it is traversed
by numerous strings of white calcareous spar, containing a little car-
bonate of iron and small crystals of blue fluor spar, a mineral rare in
Nova Scotia, and which I have found only in the lower carboniferous
limestones. The limestone supports a few layers of greenish marl
and gypsum, which appear in a small depression on the north side of
the Cove; but beyond this depression the limestone reappears with
a northerly dip. It is then bent into several small folds, and ulti-
mately resumes its high dip to the south-east. I found no fossils in
this limestone, except at its junction with the overlying marl, where
there is a thin bed of black compact limestone contaming a few in-
distinct specimens of a small species of Terebratula. In appearance
and structure this limestone is very similar to the laminated limestones
which underlie the gypsiferous deposits of Antigonish and the Shu-
benacadie.

(4.) This bed is succeeded by greenish marl, traversed by veins ot
red foliated and white fibrous gypsum, and containing a few layers of
the same mineral in a granular form ; it also contains a few veins of
crystallme carbonate of lime. In its lower part it has a brecciated
structure, as if the layers had been partially consolidated and then
broken up. Near its junction with the limestone it contains rounded
masses of a peculiar cellular limestone, coloured black by coaly matter ;
and higher in the bed there are nodules of yellow ferrugmous lime-
stone with a few fragments of shells. The greenish colour of the
marl seems to be caused by the presence of a minute quantity of sul-
phuret of iron. When a portion of the marl is heated, the sulphuret
is decomposed and the colour is changed to light red.

(5.) On this marl rests a great bed of gypsum, whose thickness I
estimated at 50 yards. Where the marl succeeds to the limestone, the

1849.] | DAWSON ON THE GYPSUM OF PLAISTER COVE. 337

shore at once recedes, and the gypsum occurs at the head of the Cove.
The gypsum is well-exposed in a cliff about 80 feet in height; but,
like most other large masses of this rock, it is broken by weathering
into forms so irregular, that its true dip and direction are not at first
sight very obvious. On tracing its layers, however, it is found to have
the same dip with the subjacent limestone and marl. About two-thirds
of the thickness of the bed consist of crystalline anhydrite, and the
remaining third of very fine-grained common gypsum. The anhy-
drite prevails in the lower part of the bed, and common gypsum in the
upper; but the greater part of the bed consists of an intimate mixture
of both substances, the common gypsum forming a base in which mi-
nute crystals of anhydrite are scattered ; and bands in which anhy-
drite prevails, alternating with others in which common gypsum pre-
dominates. It is traversed by veins of compact gypsum, but I saw
no red or fibrous veins like those of the marl. In some parts of the
bed, small rounded fragments of grey limestone are sparingly scattered
along layers of the gypsum.

The exposed part of the mass is riddled by those singular funnel-
shaped holes named “ Plaister pits,” sections of which are exposed in
the cliff; they penetrate both the anhydrite and common gypsum,
though they are contracted where they pass through harder portions
of the rock, and especially the ves of compact gypsum, some of which
are only slightly inclined, and look at first sight like layers of depo-
sition. The pits of which I saw sections have evidently resulted
from the percolation of water through the more open parts of vertical
joints, and they were cut off where they were intersected by another
slightly inclined set of open fissures, which afforded a passage to the
water. The accompanying sketch (fig. 2) shows one of these pits, and
its relations to the joints and stratification of the gypsum.

(6.) Above the gypsum
are a few layers of limestone, Fig. 2.
portions of which appear
near the base of the cliff;
one of them is studded with
tarnished crystals of iron py-
rites; another is a singular
mixture of grey limestone
and reddish granular gyp-
sum. The portions of lime-
stone contained in this rock
do not appear to be frag-
ments or pebbles, and they
are penetrated by plates of |

Plaister Pits.

selenitic gypsum. They may
be parts of a bed of limestone
broken up and mixed with
gypsum when in a soft state,

: a. Gypsum vein. 6. Open joint.
or the limestone and gypsum a Bedding ae the sempre

may have been deposited si- '
multaneously and separated by molecular attraction. A rock of this
kind is not rare as an accompaniment of gypsum, and it may be

338 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL sociETy. [Feb. 21,

merely a result of the mixture of the soft surface of the gypsum
with the mechanical detritus first deposited on it.

(7.) On the opposite side of the creek, which makes a small break
in the section, is a thick bed of marl, whose dip appears to be the
same with that of the gypsum. In general character it resembles
the marl underlying the gypsum. In some parts it is greenish, and
homogeneous in texture; in other parts it is brecciated, and some layers
have a brownish colour and shaly texture. In some parts it is highly
gypseous and contains layers of granular gypsum, one of which is
black, its colour being due to a small proportion of coaly or bitumi-
nous matter.

(8.) Beyond the marl the shore is occupied for a short space by
boulder clay. Beyond this it shows a great thickness of dark shales
with caleareous bands, containing a few small shells; they dip to the
E.S.E. at a high angle, and overlie the gypsum. They are succeeded
by a thick band of very hard grey and brownish sandstones and shales,
containing a few fragments of plants stamed by carbonate of copper.
These are again overlaid by dark shales, and these by an enormous
thickness of grey and brown sandstone and shale. Some of the shales
in this part of the section have assumed a kind of slaty or rather
prismatic structure, which I have endeavoured to represent im the
sketch, fig. 3.

At Ship Harbour, four miles di- Fig. 3.
stant from Plaister Cove, the series
last mentioned is seen to contain
thick beds of grey flag and finely
laminated shale, and also a bed of
black shale with shells of Modiola
and Cypris. The coast sections
show no beds higher in the series °
than these last; but farther in-
land they appear to be succeeded,
in ascending order, by a great de-
posit of grey sandstone and shale *
containing a bed of limestone and a
smaller bed of gypsum, the former
abounding in Producta Lyelli and
other characteristic shells of the
lower carboniferous system. These
are followed by true coal-measures, Dip of beds S. 75° Hast.
containmg Lepidodendron, Cala- a. Joints, strike E. and W. Dip S.
mites, Sigillaria, Stigmaria, ee. 6. Shale with prismatic structure.

In examining this section, an observer is struck by the contrast
between the hardened and altered sandstones and shales, and the soft,
light-coloured marls associated with the gypsum. Though not
uncommon in the gypsiferous series, this contrast is, in the case of
Plaister Cove, more striking than usual, in consequence of the com-
paratively high state of induration of the sandstones and shales. It

Shales with prismatic structure.

* The ‘ Millstone grit’ of Mr. Brown: see his paper on Cape Breton, Journal
of Geol. Soc. vol. i. p. 211.

1849.| DAWSON ON THE GYPSUM OF PLAISTER COVE. 539

shows how little susceptible of induration by heat are the gypseous
rocks, and illustrates the reason of the absence of sections in the vici-
nity of many large masses of gypsum, in localities where the rocks in
general are hard and well-exposed.

It must, I think, be evident from the facts above stated, that the
mass of gypsum under consideration is a regular aqueous deposit,
interstratified with the marls and limestone. This being admitted,
the only cause which appears competent to its production is that sug-
gested by Sir C. Lyell in his ‘Travels in North America,’ and subse-
quently illustrated by the writer, viz. the production of sulphuric acid
by volcanic action, and its introduction into the basins in which cal-
careous matter was being deposited. On this hypothesis, the history
of the deposit would be somewhat as follows :—

First, the accumulation of a vast number of very thin layers of
limestone, either so rapidly or at so great a depth that organic remains
were not included in any except the latest layers. Secondly, the
introduction of sulphuric acid, either in aqueous solution or in the
form of vapour; the acid being a product of the volcanic action whose
evidences remain in the neighbouring hills. At first the quantity of
acid was too small, or the breadth of sea through which it was dif-
fused too great, to prevent the deposition of much carbonate of lime
along with the gypsum produced; and its introduction was accom-
panied by the accumulation on the sea-bottom of a greater quantity
of mechanical detritus than formerly: hence the first consequence of
the change was the deposition of gypseous marl. At this stage or-
ganic matter was present, either in the sea or the detritus deposited,
in sufficient quantity to decompose part of the sulphate of lime, and
produce sulphuret of iron; and also to afford the colouring matter of
the nodules of black limestone found in the marl. Thirdly, the
prevalence for a considerable period of acid waters, combining with
nearly all the calcareous matter presented to them, and without
interruption from mechanical detritus. The anhydrite must have been
deposited with the common gypsum; but, under the circumstances,
it seems difficult to account for its production, unless it may have
been formed by acid vapours, and subsequently scattered over the
bed of the sea. Fourthly, areturn to the deposition of marl, under
circumstances very similar to those which previously prevailed ; and
lastly, the restoration of the ordimary arenaceous and argillaceous
depositions of the carboniferous seas.

Of the gypsum veins found in the marls, those which are white
and fibrous may have been nearly contemporaneous in their origin
with the marl itself; those which are red and lamellar have been
subsequently introduced. The granular gypsum is in all cases a part
of the original deposit. The comparatively small quantity of red oxide
of iron in these marls and other associated beds is the most important
feature of difference between the deposit of Plaister Cove and those
of most other parts of this province. There is however a large quan-
tity of reddish and brown sandstone in the beds overlying the gypsum,
though on the whole these colours are less prevalent than in the car-
boniferous system of Nova Scotia proper.

340 - PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. {Feb. 21,

2. On the Tertiary and more recent Deposits in the ISLAND OF
Nantucket. By M. E. Desor and Epwarp C. Casor.
(In a letter to Sir Charles Lyell, Pres. Geol. Soc.)

Knowine how much you are interested in all inquiries about the
drift of this country, we take the liberty to forward to you some
specimens of shells which we have lately collected from the cliffs of
Sancati Head, in the island of Nantucket. Allow us to accompany
them with some observations upon this locality.

The cliff of Sancati, as you know, constitutes the eastern border
of the island of Nantucket, rising to a height of ninety-two feet above
the beach. Although covered in a great measure with the loose sand
that is carried by the wind from the beach, yet there are several
points where the successive layers are to be seen, as for example near
the tripod: fig. 1 will give an idea of their superposition.

Pie.-1,

6 feet, a. Dune sand.
D958, Os beac.
37. ,, ©. Sand with an occasional stra-
tum of coarse grayel.
,, @d. Ferruginous gravel.
» é Sand.
3» J. Worn shells.
g. Serpula.
3, A. Oysters.
», 1% Tough clay. e
3; j- Homogeneous white sand.
», &. Gravel.
l, Brown clay.

NN peeRewWONow

S|s
Nwulo

At the base of the cliff is found a stratum of brown, very brittle
and partly sandy clay (/), nearly twenty feet thick. Over this rests
a bed of gravel several feet thick (4), which is overlaid by a stratum
of homogeneous white sand (7). On this is found a layer of very
tough clay (2), very similar in its aspect to the plastic clay near Paris,
except that it contains a great many nodules of ferruginous sand.
This clay-bed is overlaid by an oyster-bank (4) one foot thick, inter-
mixed and covered by large masses of Serpula (y), which are, like the
oysters, in their natural position. There are besides a great many
other shells scattered through this bank, all of them in a most perfect
condition, although it is difficult to preserve them entire when taken
out from the layer. This oyster-bank is followed by another fossi-
liferous stratum (7), in which the shells are in a different state: they
bear evident traces of exposure, the valves of the bivalves being

1849. | ' DESOR AND CABOT ON NANTUCKET. 341

generally isolated, and the Balanus disintegrated and more or less
worn. There are besides no traces of dendritic (manganese) incrusta-
tions, which, as you will perceive, are very common on most shells of
the oyster-bank beneath. Above this stratum of loose shells there is
found a series of layers of sand and gravel, with a thickness of nearly
fifty feet, in which every variety of materials may be seen, from the
finest sand to the coarsest gravel. On the top of these sand layers
lies a stratum of dry peat (0), filled with trunks and roots of trees,
the remains of a peat bog that has been drained by the washing away
of the cliff. Finally there is seen, covering this peat deposit, a
stratum several feet thick of fine sand (a), which has been deposited
by the wind, as is evident from its form, being everywhere bent ac-
cording to the outline of the hill, and likewise from the fact that
there is not a single stone to be found in it, but only such grains of
sand as are capable of being transported by the wind, thus affording
a striking instance of the action of wind in the formation of strati-
fied deposits.

The strata thus enumerated seem at first horizontal, but in digging
along their edges, we soon ascertained that they all dipped to the
west, their inclination varying from fifteen to five degrees, the upper
beds being generally less inclined than the lower ones. The inferior
clay stratum, however, was found to differ considerably from the
others, its dip bemg nearly thirty degrees to the south-west, and in
some places even as much as forty degrees.

This circumstance induced us to examine this lower clay stratum
more carefully. Having made out aspot where the overlying gravel
bed was seen in immediate contact with the top of the clay, we could
distinctly trace its unconformable deposition, the gravel being seen
dying out towards the more inclined clay-stratum, as shown in the
above section, fig. 1, taken on the side of a gully in the cliffs. Such
differences in the inclination cannot be attributed merely to a differ-
ence in the mode of deposition. A considerable change of level must
have taken place between the deposition of the clay and that of the
gravel. And although no fossils have been found in this clay, yet its
great resemblance to the clay of Truro in Cape Cod, which Mr.
Hitchcock considers as tertiary, leads naturally to the idea that they
may be contemporaneous, and probably of the same epoch as the
clay of Gay Head, which you have proved to be miocene. Indeed
there may be seen below the red clay of Gay Head, several layers of
a brown sandy clay very similar to that of Sancati. Thus the ter-
tiary cliffs of Gay Head should no longer be looked upon as an
isolated fact, but the cliffs of Sancati may be considered as the op-
posite outcrop of a large tertiary basin, underlying the islands of
Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, fig. 2, and extending to the south
below Long Island, and to the north as far as Truro. The edges of
this basin having thus been raised, became, at the time of the deposit
of the drift, a nucleus against which the tide-currents, according to
the theory of Capt. Davis, deposited the mud, sand and gravel
which they carried with them in their course along the eastern coast
of the United States, just as they do at present. We are even in-

342 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. ([Feb. 21,

Fig. 2.
Section from Gay Head to Sancati.
Island of Martha’s Vineyard. Nantucket.

a. Tertiary clay. e. Oyster-bank.

6. Stratified drift (sand and gravel). d. Stratified drift, sand overlying the oyster-bank.
clined to consider the tertiary itself as deposited by the same tidal
agency, being formed from the detritus of the greensand of New
Jersey; a supposition which seems the more probable as it would
account for the great similarity of materials between the greensand of
New Jersey and the tertiary of Long Island, a similarity which is so
striking, that it led even Mr. Mather to consider this tertiary as iden-
tical with the greensand.

Concerning the drift overlying the tertiary clay at Sancati, it is
obvious from the regularity of the strata, and from the very perfect
state of preservation of the shells imbedded in it, that it has not un-
dergone any violent disturbance since their deposition. The species
collected by us in the above-mentioned oyster-bank are the following:
Venus mercenaria, plenty. Buccinum undatum, rather rare.

Mya arenaria, plenty. plicosum, abundant.
Ostrea borealis, a bed several feet thick. Nassa obsoleta, abundant.

Arca transversa, very abundant. trivittata, abundant.
Solen ensis, abundant, but very brittle. Scalaria groenlandica, rare.

Astarte Cartanea, rather rare. Balanus rugosus, very abundant.
Cardita borealis, rare. Serpula, forming a layer several feet thick.
Cumingia tellinoides, rather rare. Pagurus pallicaris (claws).

Crepidula fornicata, abundant.

Now these are, without any exception, the same species that are
found living on the shore of Nantucket and Cape Cod, and as they
- are all in their natural position, the bivalves having almost always
the two valves united, and the Venus beg commonly half open, just
as they are found on the beaches when the muscles have relaxed after
death, we may fairly infer that in this part of the continent at least,
the climate has not undergone any considerable change since the
deposition of these fossils.

The presence of a stratum of dismtegrated shells of the same
species, resting upon the undisturbed oyster-bank, may easily be
accounted for by a somewhat more violent action of the tides, which
deposited in this irregular manner a part of the shells which were
washed off, from the oyster-bank itself, in the same way as is the
case now among the Nantucket shoals. Indeed there is to be found
on the slopes of every shoal ridge, a region from which the dredge
brings up nothing but loose and broken shells. This region is so
characteristic and so constant, that one of us has designated it in his
** Report on the Distribution of Animals among the Shoals*,’’ under a
peculiar name, as the Region of Broken Shells. According to Capt.

* See Proceedings of the Boston Natural History Society.

1849. | DESOR AND CABOT ON NANTUCKET. 343

Davis’s view, the shells are deposited in this way by the tidal current
along the shoal ridges, which act as so many nuclei.

Until last year it was assumed by the geologists of this country
that there were no fossils to be found in the drift, south of Lake
Champlain and the State of Maine, when one of us had the good
fortune to discover several species in the drift of Brooklyn near New
York*. Similar fragments, especially of Venus mercenaria, have
since been found in the cliffs of Point Shirley, in Boston Harbour.
Now, as the fossil shells in both places are of the same species as
those of Sancati Cliff, there is every reason to consider them as be-
longing to the same period, their more or less perfect state of preser-
vation depending merely upon local influences. It ought further to
be stated, that wherever the shells are worn or broken, and the strata
which contain them coarse and irregular, it is either m such places
where the tidal currents must have been violent, so as to carry and
deposit promiscuously heavy pebbles and minute shells, as in the
cliffs of Point Shirley ; or in such places where we must suppose that
floating ice was at work, carrying indiscriminately heavy materials,
pebbles and boulders, together with oysters and other shells detached
from the neighbouring flats, and heaping them up in the corners of
bays and sounds. This seems to have been the case with the coarse
deposits of Brooklyn, where oysters and Venus are generally found
imbedded in a reddish loam intermixed with pebbles and boulders,
many of which are distinctly scratched, thus reminding us of similar
actions which you have described in Fundy Bay and in the St. Law-
rence ; whilst in other places, like Nantucket and the bays and fiords
of Maine, a more quiet action prevailed, so as to allow the shells to
be preserved in their natural place and position after death. [Among
the drift fossils collected at Augusta, on the Kennebee, there are
many which have preserved their colour in a most perfect manner,
especially Astarte and Mytilus. |

Finally, the fossils of the drift of Nantucket bear such a striking
similarity to those of the newer pliocene of the Southern States,
that they become a natural link between the northern and southern
deposits. Instead of considering these as so many distinct formations,
we should therefore henceforth look at them as mere modifications of
the same deposit, being the result of the same agencies, viz. oceanic
tide-currents along the whole coast of the United States, combined
with gradual and secular oscillations of the whole continent, the local
strength of the tidal currents affording a sufficient explanation for
local diversity in the arrangement and size of the materials in each
locality.

Viewed in this light, the drift formation, heterogeneous as it may
appear at first, can be cited as a fair illustration of that great principle
of yours, that it is by the application of actual causes that we arrive
at a true understanding of the origin and diversities of geological
formations.

* E. Desor’s Letter to M. de Verneuil, in the Bulletin de la Société Géologique
de France, 1847. A most interesting collection of the drift fossils of Brooklyn
has since been made by Mr. Redfield.

344 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Feb. 21,

How far this theory of the tidal current applies to the more ancient
geological formations of this country, we shall attempt to establish
m another letter.

3. Notes on some Recent Foot-prints on Red Mud in Nova Scotta,
collected by W. B. WressterR of KentTvILLE. By Sir CHarwes
Evans, PGS:

I Bee to present to the Society some impressions of footsteps which
Mr. Webster has sent me, at my request, from the mud-flats of Kent-
ville in Nova Scotia.

In my ‘ Travels in North America,’ vol. i. p. 168. plate 7, I have
given a plate and description of some of these foot-prints made by
the sandpiper (T'ringa minuta), which I saw daily running along
the water’s edge in the Bay of Fundy. The deposit there consists
usually of red mud, with which the waters are charged by the under-
mining of cliffs of red sandstone and soft red marl. The tides rise
very high, and when they are lowest, large areas recently overspread
with red mud are laid dry, and are often baked in the sun for many
days, so that the mud becomes consolidated and retains permanently
the impressions of rain-drops, and the tracks of birds and animals
which walk over it.

Mr. Webster tells me, that the divisibility of the solid mud into
layers arises from the deposit of each tide being separated by a layer
of sand or loam thrown down when the tide first rushes along the
bank. The sandy particles bemg the heaviest are first deposited,
and then the thin layer of mud on which the birds walk when the
tide recedes. On examining these specimens, I perceive that while
some of the foot-prints standing out m relief on the under-sides of
the slabs are casts of impressions made in a subjacent layer, and
therefore do not correspond with the imprints on the upper side,
some of the projecting feet-marks, on the contrary, which are almost
equally sharp, are formed by the forcing down of the soft mud, beneath
which there was a sandy layer.

On some of the specimens will be seen the foot-print of a cat,
which was no doubt in pursuit of the birds, and which was walking
with its claws drawn in. In this case the weight was so great that
the foot has displaced several of the underlying laminze of mud and
sand, and has caused them to be uneven, without effacing the bird-
tracks previously formed there. On other specimens, worm-like
tracks, similar to those we often meet with on older rocks, are visible.

Some of the specimens are in their natural state, and have remained
entire; but most of them have been slightly baked in an oven by
Mr. Webster to enable them the better to bear their weight in tra-
velling.

1849.| PRESTWICH ON THE CRAG AT CHILLESFORD. 345

Marcu 7, 1849.

E. T. Ravenshaw, Esq., and Henry T. Slack, Esq., were elected
Fellows of the Society.

The following papers were then read :—

1. On some Fossiliferous Beds overlying the Red Crag at CutLuEs-
FORD, near OrFoRD, SurFroLtk. By Joserm Prestwicu, Jun.,

Esq., F.G.S.

Outline map of the district, showing the bearings of the principal places
mentioned in the paper.

A. Aldborough church. e. Chillesford brickfield.

B. Butley church. i. Iken brickfield.

C. Chillesford church. s. h. Sudbourn-hall,

I. Iken church. R. A. River Alde—ferry at ‘‘f.’’
O. Orford church. B. R. The Butley River.

S. Sudbourn church. .... Line of section “‘ fig. 3.”
T. Tunstall church. Scale 1 inch = 3 miles.

Tuts paper is the result of a short excursion in the Crag district in
company with Mr. R. C. Austen, Mr. J. Morris and Mr. A. Tylor,
jointly with whom the following observations were made.

One of the objects which we had in view was to ascertain whether
the distinction of age introduced upon paleontological grounds, be-
tween the crags of Norfolk and Suffolk, could be confirmed by visible
superposition. With regard to the red and coralline crags of the
latter county, their direct and distinct superposition had been satis-
factorily proved both by Mr. Charlesworth and by Sir Charles Lyell
on the evidence of several sections, whilst on the evidence of its fossils
the mammaliferous crag of Norfolk has been assigned by them to a
higher geological position than the red and coralline crags; but no direct
superposition of the mammaliferous on the red and coralline crags had
been detected, nor had these deposits been found developed together
in the same district. This circumstance, combined with the fact of

346 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. _ [ Mar. 7,

the mammaliferous crag exhibiting a group of fossils, a large propor-
tion of which are of estuary, fluviatile, and land origin, whilst that of
the red crag is in greater part marine, added to the very disturbed
ageregation of strata of the latter, caused us to entertain some doubts
as to whether the conditions under which they were respectively ac-
cumulated might not have so modified their faunas as to render
conclusions, however able, drawn from a comparative estimate of
such faunas, of uncertain value owing to the want of parallelism in
the data. This therefore presented a case in which the test of super-
position appeared desirable.

Small and ill-exhibited patches of the mammaliferous crag had
been traced at distant intervals from the neighbourhood of Norwich
to Thorp Common, two miles north of Aldborough, thus ending ap-
parently near to where the coralline and red crags set i. We
therefore here commenced our examination of this district, and in the
course thereof we were fortunate enough to meet with a bed of a
character unusual in the Crag districts, and which, although it does
not settle the question we had proposed to ourselves, is of much in-
terest both im its physical conditions and in its organic remains.

The course we first took was from Aldborough in a south-westerly
direction towards the parish of Iken (see map, p. 345), and at a
distance of a mile to a mile and a half from the ferry over the Alde,
we reached several pits of the ordinary coralline crag, which here
rose in a low ridge of hills on the borders of the sea-marshes.
Thence turning northward we crossed a small valley, and in ascending
the opposite hill noticed a pit in a field to our left, and close adjoin-
ing the eastern side of a farm-house which stands exactly by the
Ordnance map two miles due west in a straight line from the Martello
tower immediately south of Aldborough. At a short distance this
pit presented the appearance of yellow sands overlaid by the common
bluish grey great clay drift of the district, but on a nearer approach
we found it to consist of finely laminated micaceous clays, with im-
pressions of shells, overlying light yellow sands, also with impressions
of shells of the genera Mya, Tellina, Nucula and Cardium; but the
impressions, or rather casts, were so friable that they could not be
removed, and only in a few cases were Mr. Morris and Mr. Austen
able to determine, with some doubt, the species which apparently
would agree with those we afterwards met with at Chillesford.

There were no beds of the red or coralline crag here exposed
whereby the relations of this deposit might be ascertamed. From
the outline of the country, and from the occurrence of a pit of coral-
line crag at a short distance to the south-east and on a rather lower
level on the hill, this latter deposit appeared to pass below these fos-
siliferous clays and sands,—a supposition shortly confirmed by another
section at Iken brick-field, about a quarter of a mile further northward
and on the same level. (See fig. 1,p.347, and Sections, fig. 3, p.349.)

We here have the direct superposition of the fossiliferous clays and
sands “‘6” and “c”’ on the coralline crag “e.”’ There is however
no passage between them. Although in apparent conformable stra-
tification, they are separable in structure. The surface of the semi-

1849. | PRESTWICH ON THE CRAG AT CHILLESFORD. 347
Fig. 1.
Section at Iken Brick-jield.

a. Flint gravel, 1 to 3 feet.

6. Laminated grey clays and sands with indistinct im-
pressions of shells, 10 feet.
c. Yellow sands, 4 feet.

<= e. Light bright yellow coralline crag full of the ordinary

<< A. z SF ZZ P e
ZZ ZZ ZZ Zz Zp. fossils, chiefly corals, +30 feet.
Lizz ae EE

compact calcareous coralline crag is slightly uneven and waterworn.
The sands which repose upon it are more siliceous, and exhibit
at their base occasional patches of rounded and angular gravel, in
which, we were informed, blocks of hard stone of considerable size
were sometimes found. Both im mineral structure and in organic
remains there is evidence of a change of conditions. Of all the
abounding corals of the corallime crag, none exist in this upper bed.
Instead of the thick mass of peculiar zoophytes and mollusks of the
former, we find a new and scanty fauna imbedded in a very different
manner. In the crag both coralline and red, but more especially in
the latter, the organic remains are accumulated generally in great
confusion ; the bivalve shells rarely have their two valves together,
are often broken, and oftener still form whole beds of their commi-
nuted fragments. Yet more rarely, apparently, do the remains occur
in the position in which the animal lived. But in these overlying
clays and sands such appears to be the usual condition, and not the
exception. The bivalves which we found very constantly exhibited
both the valves in contact, and often in the position in which the
animal lived. We could, however, at this pit only note their forms ;
the shell had im all cases been removed, and merely a soft cast of clay
or sand was left behind.

We thence proceeded southward to Sudbourn, examining on our
way several pits which exhibited no traces of the beds “6” and “ce,”
but afforded many very good and interesting examples of the super-
position of the red crag on the coralline crag. Neither did we ob-
serve the newer beds in the neighbourhood of Orford or of Sudbourn
Park. Taking thence a westerly direction to Chillesford, three miles
by road north-west from Orford, upon arriving at the entrance of the
village we turned off to the brick-kiln, which stands on the hill a
quarter of a mile north of the main road, and there found another
outcrop of fossiliferous clays and sands, forming partly the surface of
the hill-top, and consisting of twelve feet of yellow and grey sandy
clays more or less lammated, with numerous indistinct casts and im-
pressions of shells, overlying five feet of yellow sand, with a few shells
scattered in its lower part. The crag beds did not come to the surface
in this pit ; but in a well about thirty feet deep, sunk in the middle
of the pit and through the yellow sands, the workmen informed us
that the common red crag of the country was reached at a depth of

VOL. V.—PART I. 2B

348 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOUIETY. [ Mar. 7,

eight to ten feet. They also stated that in the beds of clay they not
unfrequently found large bones. (See Section fig. 3, p. 349.)

Half a mile westward from this brick-field is Chillesford Church,
to the north-east of which and immediately adjoinmg the church-
yard is a pit marked in the Ordnance map as a clay-pit, and present-
ing a section of much interest.

Fig. 2.
Section adjoining Chillesford Church.

SSE" a. Light grey conglomerate clay drift and traces of gravel.
SSS = 6 6. Laminated light grey and yellow clayey sands passing

SSS Se ct 5
————— = = downwards into beds more entirely of yellow sands (ec).

Shells disseminated irregularly throughout.

The shells of which we observed but the casts in the preceding
pits we here obtained quite perfect, although in a very friable state ;
and few broken or imperfect shells were to be seen. Nothing could
be more tranquil than the mode in which they were imbedded,—the
larger bivalves commonly in their normal position as when living.
The species were not numerous, but individuals of many of the species
abounded. Those which were found in the greatest abundance were the
Cyprina islandica, Mya truncata, Tellina obliqua, Nucula Cobbolde,
Leda myalis, and Turritella terebra. We also obtained a few small
vertebree of fishes. In this pit the clays and sands do not form se-
parate beds, but are more mixed and pass one into the other. No
crag beds are exposed in this section, but lower down the hill, close
to the main road and at a distance of about 150 yards to the south,
is a pit of red crag twenty to twenty-five feet thick, presenting its
most marked characters and full of its most common fossils. There
is little doubt, I think, of the red crag passing under the beds of
Chillesford Church pit at a depth of afew feet. (See Section fig. 3,
. 349.)

; Here we were obliged to conclude our observations, having traced
the fossiliferous sands and clays over a district from north-east to
south-west of about three miles and a half. Beds of a very similar
appearance, but without organic remains, we observed the following
day at the brick-kiln one mile north of Aldborough. The coralline
crag outcropped at a short distance from it, and on a lower level.

Early in this month (November 1848) I paid another visit to this
district ; but although I traversed it im several directions between
Orford, Iken, Tunstall, Chillesford and Woodbridge, yet I met with
no sections so illustrative as those I have now described. There
were, however, many which would seem to corroborate and extend the
structure we noted last spring. Thus in the two sand-pits between the
Black Walks Woods and the keeper’s house at Iken, the same lami-
nated greyish clays from five to ten feet thick are seen overlying the
yellow sands, at a short depth below which traces of the red crag
have been dug up. ;

The excessive wet prevented me from making any complete exami-

1849. | PRESTWICH ON THE CRAG AT CHILLESFORD. 349

nation of these clays. On Tunstall Heath these same laminated clays
were visible in several pits. Neither had I the time necessary for
a further research in this district, and I beg therefore to direct the
attention of other geologists to this interesting field of observation.

I have appended a list of a few localities where some illustrative
sections of the several deposits are exhibited*.

Conclusions.

From the few facts above detailed it would at all events appear
that the coralline and red crags are on the hills north of Orford over-
laid unconformably by a deposit ten to twenty feet thick of a distinct
mineral and paleontological character. In Iken parish this deposit
clearly reposes upon the coralline crag, and at Chillesford the red
crag is at one point shown to occur below it, and at another to out-
crop at a short distance from it on a lower level. The red crag is
also frequently found between these two places on the slopes of the
hills, the summits of which are capped by the clays and sands. The
following section would therefore, I infer, represent the structure of
this part of the country.

Fig. 3.

Section from Iken to Chillesford.

Chillesford Brick- Black Walks Wood. Iken
church. 1 kiln. 2 1

brick-kiln.

S.W. 3 3 4 N.E.

1. Fossiliferous clays and sands (‘6 and ec’’). The clays are usually of a hight bluish grey
colour, are micaceous, and laminated commonly with yellow and ferruginous sands.
Their organic remains are generally in casts, and only occasionally are the shells pre-
served. The sands ‘‘c’’ are very variable, and at their base are frequently patches of
gravel.

2. Sands. 3. Red crag. 4, Coralline crag.

The distinctive peculiarity, im the Crag district, of such beds as
those of Iken and Chillesford, consists in their argillaceous structure,
their evidently tranquil accumulation, and in the rare circumstance
that the organic remains are imbedded in them mostly in their normal
position, and in a perfect state of preservation,—conditions not com-
mon in the coralline crag, and extremely rare in the red crag. The
latter especially, as it is well known, presents every appearance of a
most disturbed condition of the waters in which it was accumulated ;
there is scarcely a tranquil spot in its whole area. In these overlying
beds, on the contrary, the state of quiet appears to have been most
perfect. This is important, as we may hope to obtain, under
these circumstances, clear paleontological proofs of their age. In
the red crag period the currents and movements of the sea were
apparently so strong and constant, and the extent to which the coral-
line crag was worn down and abraded by these causes is so evident,
that the determination of the organic remains proper to the red crag
is attended with some uncertainty, as it must at times be difficult to

* See Note at end.
BZ

350 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. — [| Mar. 7,

determine to what extent the fossils of the coralline crag* may have
been removed and re-imbedded in the red crag, especially as the
lithological structure and composition of these two deposits presented
every facility for such a transfer and assimilation. But in these clays
we have the organic remains preserved on the spot where they lived,
and in a condition to show that they did live there, and therefore
present true and good records. The number of specimens which we
collected was small, but I am glad to find that Mr. Searles Wood has
since visited the locality and obtained from it a more extensive col-
lection than we had time to make. He has had the kindness to fur-
nish me with the following list of the specimens he procured :—
Mo.LiuscA GASTEROPODA. Cardium edule, Linn.

Lucina borealis, Linn.

Cyprina islandica, Linn.
15. Tellina crassa, Penn.
lata, Gmel.
obliqua, J. Sow.
pretenuis, Woodward.
Mactra ovalis, J. Sow.

Buccinum undatum, Linn.
Natica catena, Dacosta.
Turritella communis, Risso.
Littorina littorea, Linn.

Mouuusca ACEPHALA.

5. Mytilus edulis, Zinn. (M. elliptica, Brown.)

Modiola discrepanst? Mont. 20. Abra alba, Wood.

Nucula tenuis, Mont. (Mactra Boysii, Mont.)

—— Cobboldiz, Sow. Panopea norvegica, Spengl.

Leda artica, G. Sow. Mya truncata, Linn.
(Nucula lanceolata, Min. Con.)

10. —— myalis. _ Balanus communis.

(Nucula myalis, Couthouy.) Echinus :

Cardium groenlandicum, Chemn.

Mr. Wood observes, in speaking of this deposit, that it “has an
arctic character, and that he has very little doubt of its belonging to
a period posterior to that of the red crag, and equivalent probably
to the mammaliferous.’’ He also calls attention to the large quan-
tity of Foraminiferat which the sand contains. This opinion of an
authority such as Mr. Wood we feel to be important, and our own
observations with regard to superposition would, provided we had
been able to give it greater extension northward, render this view of
the age of these beds a probable one; for we have shown that these
fossiliferous clays and sands immediately underlie the till or great
conglomerate clay-drift, and overlie indiscriminately both the coral-
line and red crag, than both of which it must consequently be newer.
But the paleontological evidence is, I think, far from being suffi-
ciently decisive, although good and clear as far as it goes. We yet
want to trace by superposition the connecting links between the dif-
ferent beds of this district and those of the neighbourhood of Norwich.

* See remarks on this subject by Mr. Charlesworth in his several papers on the
Crag in the ‘ Magazine of Natural History’ for 1835, and in the ‘ Lond. and Edinb.
Phil. Mag.’ for 1836.

tT Specimen imperfect.

~ Mr. Wm. Cunnington of Devizes, in a letter to me on this subject, observes,
“TJ have not been able to examine the sand from Chillesford with the attention
which I could have wished. Eight or ten species of these minute fossils, chiefly
of the genera Rosalina and Rotalina, have been recognized. The genera are less
numerous and less varied in the sands of Chillesford than in the sands of the
coralline crag, but the individuals of each species are very abundant.”

1849.] PRESTWICH ON THE CRAG AT CHILLESFORD. 351

Should the identity of these beds with the mammaliferous crag of
Norfolk be proved, then the evidence as given in this one locality by
superposition will be in perfect accordance with the triple division
of the crag established by Mr. Charlesworth. Still 1 would direct
more particular attention to the precise relation which the red crag
may bear to this deposit, and to the exact determination of the phe-
nomena at their junction, of which we did not meet with a satisfactory
exhibition.

Of the 23 species enumerated by Mr. Wood, I find according to
Prof. Forbes’s catalogue*, in his Report on the geological relations of
the existing fauna and flora of the British Isles, that 10 occur in the
coralline crag+, 21 or 22 in the red crag, 22 or 23 in beds of the age
of the Clyde pleistocenes, and 22 exist in the present seas of Green-
land or on our own coasts. Only 1 or possibly 2 species out of the
23, viz. the Nucula Cobboldie and one of the Tellines probably, do
not occur recent.

With the Bridlington beds this group shows but few species in
common, probably not more than 6 or 7. It thus appears that,
with the exception of one or two, the whole of the species associated
together in this bed, range from the period of the red crag to that
of the present day ; 8 or 9 were congeners at the period of the coral-
line crag with forms of a more southern character; but now the far
larger proportion of the entire group are inhabitants of the northern
Seas, and a small portion of them only range to the Celtic, and still
fewer to the Lusitanian regions. Altogether, the aspect of the fauna
may be certainly considered as northern. This fact, however, as the
period is probably the one immediately preceding the great northern
drift, when there may have been open seas to the north, I should
rather be inclined to ascribe to the-lower temperature of the waters,
arising from the existence of currents from the northern seas, than to
consider it as evidence of a land temperature much different from
that of the present day.

Further, although many of the species are very typical, the number
common to several periods forms too large a proportion of the total
for us to arrive at present at a very accurate estimate of the exact age
of these beds. That they are comparatively of recent date, is indicated
both by organic remains and by superposition, but our knowledge of
their fauna ought to be considerably extended, and I believe that the
means of doing so exists, before the exact position of these beds can
be determined. It is, however, evident that they are more recent
than the red crag, and older than the great northern clay-drift, which
thus reduces the question to within comparatively narrow limits.

Since writing the above, I have been led to consider, from the want
of a more general agreement between the fauna of this deposit and

* Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, vol. i. p. 406.
+ This includes the Turritella terebra, which Mr. S. Wood gives only from the
red crag.

Shiy PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Mar. 7,

that of Bridlington, which is generally held to be the marine equiva-
lent of the mammaliferous crag, and from the very small number of
extinct species found in the Chillesford deposit, whether it may not
possibly belong to a period one step more recent than the mammali-
ferous crag; whether in fact it may not be the marine representative
of that thin marine freshwater and land series which on the north-
eastern coast of Norfolk is spread over the patches of the Norwich
crag, and immediately underlies the great northern clay-drift.

Note.—The following directions may be useful as a guide to a few
of the best and most interesting sections in this district of the Crag ;
that is to say, im the small tract of country between the river Butley
and the river Alde, especially as it is here that we have the fullest
development of the coralline crag. The references are made by the
Ordnance Map.

Coralline Crag Pits.

Sudbourn Hall,—in the park, one furlong north-west of the house: a
large shallow section in the lower part of the coralline Crag, cele-
brated for the number and beauty of its fossils, especially its Con-
chifera.

Ditto,—one furlong north-east of the house: higher in the coralline
crag ; more unproductive in shells, but richer in corals.

Ditto,—half a mile north-east of the house ; entrance of park at the
junction of the Aldborough and Woodbridge roads: rich in corals ;
a fine and large section.

Iken parish ;—Redlands covert, on the south-west corner of, on the
borders of [ken marshes: a small field-pit ;—thin beds, very com-
pact.

Ree and a half furlongs west of Calton farm: a fine and
large pit.

Ditto,—north side of Ferry farm-house, one mile south-westward from
Aldborough Ferry. This pit exhibits a surface of crag strongly
indented by drift-sands and gravel.

Pits of Coralline Crag, with a capping of Red Crag.

Sudbourn parish,—near the top of the hill, seven furlongs north-east
by east from Sudbourn church. This is a very interesting pit, ex-
hibiting a fine section of fifteen feet of red crag, reposing on twenty
feet of coralline crag, both abounding with their characteristic
fossils.

Ditto,—exactly intermediate by a line on the map between this last pit
and Sudbourn church, by the side of a lane the first turning to the
left in proceeding westward from Sudbourn church. This pit also
exhibits an excellent section of the red and coralline crags.

Ditto :—adjoining and intermediate between these last two pits are
several others, some of them of considerable size, but mostly exca-
vated in the coralline crag only.

1849.] THOMSON ON THE POSITION OF SHELLS IN THE CRAG. 353

Pits of Red Crag.

Chillesford,—by the side of the road from Orford to Woodbridge, at
the point where the lane (east side of it) branches off to Chillesford
church : a fine large section*.

Ditto :—several small pits on the heath, about half a mile north-east
from Chillesford brick-kiln.

Pits of Fossiliferous Clays and Sands (6 & ec) overlying the Coral-
line and Red Crags.

Iken parish :—brick-field. (See page 347.)

Ditto :—two small pits at the back of the keeper’s house, seven fur-
longs west of the last pit.

Ditto,—on the edge of the wood, three furlongs south-south-west of
the last pit. [In the last two pits the red crag occurs at their
base ; fossils scanty. |

Chillesford :—pit by the church, described at p. 348.

Ditto :—at brick-kiln, described at p. 347.

Ditto :—on the Tunstall-road, quarter of a mile from its junction with
the Orford and Woodbridge roads.

Pits in Clays “6b & c”’; in places fossiliferous.

Iken parish :—pit described in page 346.

Ditto :—an old pit in a field quarter of a mile south-east from Yarn
Hill.

Tunstall parish :—on the south side of the road leading from Tunstall
to Iken Heath, one mile and three furlongs nearly due west of
Tunstall church.

Ditto :—in a field quarter of a mile south of the same road, half a mile
nearer Iken Heatht.

ae ae

2. On the Position in which Shells are found in the Red Crag.
By T. G. Rincter-Tuomson, Esq.

[Communicated by Professor Ansted. ]
[ Abstract. |

THE unvarying position of the bivalve and univalve shells in the red
crag formation of Suffolk and Essex, in many localities, has not, that
I am aware of, been ever publicly discussed. The inexhaustible
stores of Pectunculi in this formation, as well as the other less nu-
merous bivalves, are deposited m layers of various thickness, from
six inches to as many or more feet, each shell having its inside or
concavity downwards, and the umbones of the shells having in general
an easterly direction.

* On the opposite side of the Butley river, in the parish of Butley, are several
good pits of red crag. I would especially notice those about half a mile westward
from the Old Abbey.

t+ The greater number of the numerous clay- and sand-pits in the parishes of
Tunstall, Wantesden and Iken, are in the unproductive sands overlying the crag
and in the great northern clay-drift. Around Orford are many of the former.

304 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Mar. 21,

By repeated experiment it was found that water, whether quiescent
or running, deposited all the separated bivalve shells with the mside
or concavity upwards. The univalves are deposited with their mouths
upwards. These experiments are so simple and easily made, that
they need not be enlarged upon.

As these positions do not prevail among the bivalves and univalves
of the crag, it may be observed that, although water may have trans-
ferred them to their present localities, it could not have been the cause
of their actual position. It was suspected that wind might have
effected this alteration. Sheils bemg placed upon the ground as
water deposits them, and being blown upon with a pair of bellows,
immediately assumed their characteristic crag positions ; moreover
the umbo of each shell was turned in the direction of the current of
air. Repetition of this experiment on the sea-shore showed that the
shells were at first carried along the beach, their umbones bemg
turned from the wind, till the shell was completely turned over, the
place of the umbo being reversed and occupying that point in the
circumference of the shell nearest the wind.

The univalves, whose deposition in water with their mouths up-
wards was noticed above, on being subjected to a current of air rolled
over with their mouths downwards, the axis of their columelle being
generally at right angles to the direction of the wind. This experi-
ment was tried as well on the shore as in the house, and with similar
results in both cases.

If the experiments are allowed to be conclusive, which it is thought
they fairly may, it will be evident that, as far as the observations go,
the water must have left the shells dry, and that wind then forced
them into their present position, and that no other wind than an
easterly one would have placed the umbones, or the longitudinal axis
of the univalves, as they are now found. This easterly wind must .
have prevailed for a lengthened period of time, and experiment
would lead us to infer, with no inconsiderable force.

[This paper was accompanied by a table of observations on the
position of the shells at various localities, and by an outline map
showing the supposed direction of the wind at each when the shells
were deposited. |

——— ee

Marcu 21, 1849.

J.G. Lynde, Jun., Esq., Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Trowbridge,
G.B., and M. Sylvain Van de Weyer, the Belgian Minister, were
elected Fellows of the Society.

The following papers were then read :—

|. Description of erect S1GILLARI& with conical Tap Roots, found in
the Roof of the SypNey Main Coat, in the IsLanp or Care.
Breton. By Ricuarp Brown, Esq.

in addition to the erect trees from the Sydney ecoal-measures de-
scribed in the Journal of the Society, vol. i. p. 393 and vol. il. p. 46,

1849. ] BROWN ON ERECT SIGILLARIZ. 355

I have now the satisfaction of forwarding sketches and descriptions
of two curious fossils from the roof of the main coal, calculated in my
opinion to afford some interesting information concerning the habit
and mode of growth of Sigillaria alternans; and at the same time
to clear up all doubts respecting the true nature of the “dome-shaped
fossil,”’ figured and described in Lindley and Hutton’s ‘ Fossil Flora,’
vol. il. pref. p. xiii.

Stump of Sigillaria alternans, one-twelfth of the natural size.

Fig. 1 is a sketch of an upright stump, sixteen inches in height
and twelve inches in diameter at the top, which dropped from the
roof of the seam some time after the coal had been removed; the
greater part of the branching roots had fallen down and been stowed
away amongst the rubbish of the mine before the stem was discovered ;
the few that remained are in external appearance true Stigmarie, but
being filled up with soft shale, no traces of internal organization can
be observed, except occasionally a flattened central core. The upper
part of the stem was covered with a coaly bark one-fifth of an inch
in thickness, which was closely marked with irregular short strize in
a vertical direction, and by long projecting wrinkles running spirally
round the stem as shown at c (fig. 1). A thin layer of hard shale
which envelopes the bark, completely conceals the leaf-scars. Lower
down the bark was thinner and very smooth, whilst that which
covered the roots a, 6 was so exceedingly thin and friable, that it
fell off on the shghtest touch.

The leaf-scars on the decorticated stem are very sharp and distinct ;
they begin close to the ramifications of the roots, and run in single
spiral lines over a zone three or four inches in width ; above this zone,

356 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [ Mar. 21,

double rows of oval scars commence, which at first incline consider-
ably to the right, but soon take a vertical direction and run exactly
parallel to each other. There are no traces of longitudinal furrows,
either upon the bark or the decorticated stem. The intervals between
each pair of scars swell outwards, the raised spaces being exactly
under the projecting wrinkles on the surface of the bark, as shown in
fig. 2, which is a vertical section, of the natural size, in the direction
of one of the double rows of leaf-scars, d, e being the bark, and f, g
the deep indentations on the decorticated stem.

. Fig. 4.

——————————

———

The inner surface of the bark is covered with minute scales, which,
to the naked eye, appear not unlike the delicate rhomboidal markings
of a very young Lepidodendron, but when viewed through a lens
exhibit an oval outline, as shown in fig. 3, which is
magnified three times the natural size. These scales
are quite distinct as far down as the point A (fig. 1),
a few inches below the first ramifications of the roots.
The roots a, 6 are marked with irregular waving strize,
occasionally running one into another, as represented in
figs. 4 and 5, the first bemg the upper, and the second
the lower side, of the same piece of root. It will be
observed that the areolz on the upper side are squeezed
into an oval shape, sometimes to such a degree that
merely a black indented mark is visible, whilst on the under side they
preserve their circular form with a minute black dot in the centre.

SSS)

Wy
) ) u) fi
i

1849. | BROWN ON ERECT SIGILLARIA. 357

_ The exact position of the tree with reference to the underlying coal
is shown in the section fig. 6. Immediately over the coal there is a

Shale.

Coal seam.

bed of hard shale six inches in depth, in which no fossils are found ;
this is overlaid by a softer shale abounding in coal plants ; all the up-
right stumps which I have examined are rooted in the six-inch shale ;
the crown of the base of that which I am now describing is just four
inches above the coal; its roots dip gradually downwards until they
come in contact with the coal at about eighteen inches from the centre
of the tree, and then spread out over its surface. When this fossil
was brought out of the mine, the under side was covered up with hard
shale, to which about one inch of coal adhered ; in cutting away this
layer of coal I met with the termination of a perpendicular root im-
mediately in contact with the coal, which I carefully developed ; pro-
ceeding in this manner, my patience was amply rewarded by the dis-
covery of a complete set of conical tap roots arranged in the order
represented in fig. 7, which is an horizontal section of the inverted
base or underside of the

stump, on a scale of one- Fig. 7.
twelfth of the natural
size. It will be observed
that the horizontal roots
branch off in a remark-
ably regular manner, the
base being first divided
into four equal quarters
by deep channels running
from near the centre to-
wards the points indi-
cated by the letters 7, 4,
l,m; an inch or two fur-
ther on each of these
quarters is divided into
two roots, which, as they
recede from the centre,

358 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Mar. 21,

bifurcate twice in the quarter 7, m, which is the only complete por-
tion of the fossil. If the ramifications in the other three quarters
were as regular as in 7, m, which I have every reason to suppose
was the case, having found a similar arrangement in two other trees
of the same species, we should have thirty-two roots within a circle of
eighteen inches diameter.

There are four large tap roots in each quarter of the stump, as shown
in fig. 7, and about five inches beyond these a set of smaller tap roots
striking perpendicularly downwards from the horizontal roots, making
forty-eight in all, viz. sixteen in the inner and thirty-two in the outer
set; and, what is a still more remarkable feature m this singular
fossil, there are exactly thirty-two double rows of leaf-scars on the
circumference of the trunk. This curious correspondence in the
numbers of the roots and vertical rows of leaf-scars, surely cannot be
accidental. I am not aware that any similar correspondence has ever
been observed either in recent or fossil plants. The inner set of tap
roots vary from two to two and a half inches in length ; the diameter
at their junction with the base of the trunk being about two inches,
as shown in fig. 8, which is one-half the natural size. The outer set
are much smaller, being about one inch in diameter at their junction
with the horizontal roots, and from one to one and a half inch in
length. Very few of either set are strictly conical, although they
probably were originally of that shape; some are squeezed into an
elliptical, others into a triangular form ; all have been wrinkled hori-
zontally, as shown in fig. 8, by the shrinkage due to vertical compres-
sion. A thick tuft of broad flattened
rootlets radiates from the termina- _
tions of the tap roots, and a few in-
distinct areolee are visible on their
sides; the length of these rootlets
does not appear to exceed three or
four inches, their width being one-
fourth of an inch; a raised black line
runs down the middle of each, similar
to that observed in the rootlets of
Stigmarie. These short thick tap
roots were evidently adapted only to
a soft wet soil, such as we may easily conceive was the nature of
the first layer of mud deposited upon a bed of peat, which had
settled down slightly below the level of the water.

We may infer also, from the existence of a layer of shale without
fossil plants, immediately over the coal, that the prostrate stems and
leaves which occur in such large quantities in the next superincum-
bent bed, fell from trees growing upon the spot, and were entombed
in layers of mud held in suspension in water, which at short intervals
inundated the low marshy ground on which they grew; for had the
plants been drifted from a distance, we should find them in the first
layer of shale as well as in those higher up.

Although the main coal is generally overlaid by shale, yet occasion-
ally the shale thins out, and the thick sandstone, which is the next

Fig, 3.

yh
Se a
Ca

aie
WS AN r Pn

tame
ae =

1849. | BROWN ON ERECT SIGILLARI&. 359

stratum in the ascending order, forms the roof of the coal. In such
cases the surface of the peat bog could not have been level when the
shale was deposited upon it, some small patches having been still
above water; and as no upright trees are found in the sandstone
roof, it may reasonably be inferred that plants would not vegetate
upon the bog itself, a layer of soft mud being necessary in the first
instance for germinating the seeds; but when a plant had once taken
root in this mud its rootlets penetrated downwards into the peat,
and furnished an abundant supply of nutriment for the rapid growth
of the tree, from the rich mass of decaying vegetable matter beneath.

I may here observe that the quality of the upper part of the seam
appears invariably to be influenced by the nature of the roof, the coal
being highly charged with iron pyrites under a sandstone, but quite
free from it under a shale roof*. And since no upright trees are
found in the sandstone roofs, is it probable that the luxuriant forest
of Sigillariz growing in the mud above the peat bog has taken up
the sulphuret of iron, and thus produced such a beneficial effect upon
the quality of the coal? Both sulphuric acid and the oxide of iron
are inorganic constituents of plants, and it has been ascertained that
natural and artificial waters that have a sulphureous taste, when em-
ployed in irrigating meadows, give birth to a very luxuriant vegeta-
tion}, but whether the growth of a forest of Sigillarize upon the sur-
face of the peat bog, is an adequate explanation of the absence of iron
pyrites from the upper part of the coal seam, I must leave to more
skilful botanists to determine.

Having shown that Sigillaria alternans was provided with roots
peculiarly adapted for flourishing upon a soft muddy soil, and thus
furnished additional proof that coal seams have been formed from
beds of peat or other decaying vegetable matter accumulated on the
surface, it only remains for me now to direct attention to the fossil
represented in fig. 9, which it will be observed, in its external aspect,

Fig. 9.

Stump broken off close to the root, one-twelfth of natural size.

* Mr. Buddle states in the Trans. of the Nat. Hist. Society of Newcastle, vol. i.
p- 217, that the coal seams in Northumberland are always more or less intermixed
with iron pyrites under a sandstone roof.

+ Johnston’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 273.

360 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [| Mar. 21,

is a perfect specimen of the “‘ dome-shaped fossil’’ figured by Lindley
and Hutton, and in reality a Sigillaria of the same species as that
just described, whose stem has been broken off near the root, the
hollow cylinder of bark having, after the decay of the lax cellular
tissue, been bent down and doubled over by the pressure of the accu-
mulating mud outside, so as effectually to close up the aperture,
leaving only a few irregular cicatrices of three or four inches in length
converging at the apex. The whole fossil was covered with a thin
bark of coal which soon crumbled off, and exposed leaf-scars scattered
at random over the sides, but arranged in double rows near the
summit. If this stem had been broken off three inches lower down,
none of the double rows of scars would have been visible; the scat-
tered single scars would then have precisely corresponded with the
‘indistinct dots”’ in Lindley and Hutton’s fossil.

Fortunately about one-half of the roots were collected from the
roof of the coal after the truncated stump had fallen down; they
cannot be distinguished from the roots of the tree represented in
fig. 1. The underside or base of the stump is in like manner divided
into four quarters, each of which ramifies twice, thus making sixteen
main roots, from each of which a tap root descends perpendicularly.
The sixteen main roots are again subdivided, and a second set of tap
roots shoot off from them; in short, the resemblance to the first de-
scribed tree is so perfect in every feature, except the accidental closing
up of the stem, that it is quite unnecessary to repeat the description
already given of that fossil. Judging from the length and position
of the cicatrices at the apex where the bark has been squeezed to-
gether, the diameter of the stem must have been about ten inches.
Its position with respect to the underlying coal was precisely analo-
gous to that of the first tree.

The roots of the preceding fossils repeatedly ramify as their distance
from the stem increases, and ultimately terminate m broad flattened
points. The whole of the spreading roots of these trees cover only
an area of thirty square feet each, whilst the roots of the Lepidoden-
dron figured in vol. iv. p. 46 of this Journal, whose stem is only two
or three inches larger in diameter, covered an area of two hundred
square feet. Since it is well known, from numerous examples, that
the Lepidodendra were lofty trees with spreading branches, which
required wide supporting bases, may we not reasonably conclude that
Sigillarize of the species described, judging from their comparatively
small bases, were on the contrary trees of low stature, without heavy
branches ?

2. Notice of Researches in Asta Minor.
By M. Pierre DE TCHIHATCHEFF.
[Extract of a letter to Sir Roderick I. Murchison, F.R.S., V.P.G.S., &c. &c., dated
Paris, February 26, 1849.] .
Ir is a month since I arrived in Paris from Constantinople, after an
absence of two years and a half in Asia Minor. Though some por-
tions of my scientific collections were unfortunately lost, still the re-

1849.] TCHIHATCHEFF’S RESEARCHES IN ASIA MINOR. 361

mainder, now safe in Paris, is so rich and valuable, in regard to geo-
logy, paleeontology and botany, that I have all possible reason to be
satisfied, and to consider myself well repaid for my long and painful
exertions. [ shall not tire you by enumerating my various journeys,
which form a complete network over the whole Anatolian peninsula,
from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, and as far east as a line
from Trales to Tarsus. The following are a few of the more important
results of my researches :—

1. In 1848 I discovered two important paleeozoic localities in Asia
Minor ; the one at its eastern extremity composing the extensive range
of the Antitaurus ; the other only two days’ journey from Constanti-
nople forming the northern shore of the Gulf of Nicomedia. Both
are Devonian, as they contain Terebratula fusca, Productus subacu-
leatus, Spirifer speciosus, and other species, as determined by M. de
Verneuil. The ignorance of geologists regarding the former is not
wonderful, as I was the first person who ventured to explore this lofty
and picturesque chain, situated on the borders of Kurdistan and in-
habited by savage and fanatical tribes only imperfectly subject to the
Turks, and among whom I lost two of my men, one shot at my side,
the other killed by a sword-cut in a contest with thirty horsemen who
plundered us of all our property. But the other deposit, in the very
vicinity of Constantinople, might have been expected to be better
known, as most of the geologists who have explored this district have
visited Ismid or Nicomedia, and had they only gone there by land
instead of by water, could not possibly have missed it. This is pro-
bably the reason why Mr. Hamilton and others marked the northern
shore of the Nicomedian gulf as cretaceous, and the remainder of the
peninsula between it and the Black Sea as Silurian. The prolonga-
tion of the Silurian? system on the other side of the Bosphorus, as
given in your map, is also very arbitrary, as neither M. Hommaire
de Hell, M. Visquenel nor myself, could ever find any fossils in the
Giant’s Mountain, where Mr. Hamilton says they occur. In the
southern part, marked as cretaceous, Devonian fossils are however
abundant, and the whole peninsula therefore probably belongs to this
formation.

2. It would be tedious to notice other errors, but I may say that
the valley of the Kizil Irmak, coloured on your map as tertiary, cer-
tainly belongs to the enigmatical “formation of gypsum and red sand-«
stone,’ developed on a very large scale in Asia Minor, which Mr.
Hamilton in his ‘ Travels’ supposes to belong to the Permian system.
Before my researches this deposit had never yielded a single fossil,
but in the red sandstone of Yuzgat I discovered numerous Alveolina,
of a large size and probably a new species, associated with nummulites
and a few bivalves. Hence this rock belongs to the “terrain num-
mulitique,”’ which, if we suppose all the red deposits in this country

to be of the same age, is probably the most extensive formation in
Asia Minor*.

* The chief differences of opinion between my zealous friend and myself will
be pointed out by Mr. W. Hamilton; but in reference to the statement concern-
ing the nummulitic rocks, I cannot avoid expressing my conviction, that a more

362 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL Society. [April 4,

3. I leave my paleontological collections, which fill three large
boxes and are of great value, to the care of our friend De Verneuil.
I cannot, however, refrain from mentioning some jurassic ammonites
found at a distance of eight hours to the south of Angora. These
prove the existence in this place of a patch of Oxford clay, as M.
Alcide d’Orbigny at the first glance recognized all the ammonites as
characteristic of this formation.

4. The results obtamed im my ascent of Mount Argeeus are very
interesting, but I shall not trespass further on your patience with
details. It is sufficient to say that I returned four times to Kaisaria,
and spent five months in investigating’the structure of this remark-
able volcanic giant and the surrounding country, which I have com-
pletely delineated on a large geological map.

I have not only determined the altitude of above 500 localities by
means of the temperature of boiling water, but have also established
meteorological observations, furnished with the best instruments, ba-
rometers, thermometers and hygrometers, procured at great expense
from Paris, at Constantinople, Kaisaria, Smyrna, Trebisonde and
Tarsus. From Constantinople and Kaisaria I have already a con-
tinuotts series of observations for two years, and from Trebisonde for
six months, and I intend that they shall be kept up for at least three
years longer.

APRIL 4, 1849.

The Rev. E. Prout, John Bentley, Esq., and Lieut.-Colonel Reid,
C.B., were elected Fellows of the Society.

The following papers were then read :-—

1. Observations on the Geology of Asta Minor, referring more
particularly to portions of GALatiA, Pontus and PAPHLAGONIA.
By W. J. Hamixton, Esq., Sec. G.S.

Brrore I proceed to the chief object of this memoir, I consider it
an act of justice to my fellow-traveller Mr. Strickland and to myself,
to offer a few observations to the Society on some of the statements
contained in the recent notice of M. Tchihatcheff.

These statements refer mainly to two points, viz. the palzeozoic
rocks in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, and the age of the red
sandstone and overlying formations in the more eastern districts of
Asia Minor.

1°. With regard to the paleeozoic rocks near Constantinople, M.
Tchihatcheff first states that I have called them Silurian instead of

thorough development of the subject (and M. de Tchihatcheff has again returned
to Asia Minor on this account solely) will, I trust, prove a striking confirmation
of the general view I have put forth concerning the tertiary eocene age of all
the “ terrain nummulitique” in Asia as well as in Africa and Europe.

Ron. I. Murcutson, Sept. 27, 1849.

1849.] HAMILTON ON THE GEOLOGY OF ASIA MINOR. 363

Devonian, and then doubts the existence of fossils on the Giant’s
Mountain opposite to Therapia. In answer to the first objection, I
have only to say that they have been described by Mr. Strickland
in the 5th vol. of the Transactions of the Society, where a list of the
fossils is given on the authority of Mr. James Sowerby. I might also
observe, that the mineralogical character of the rock, so closely resem-
bling that of some of the argillaceous schists of the Lower Silurian
rocks as exhibited in North Wales, is also a justification of their
having been so named at a time when the Devonian system was un-
known*.

With regard to the existence of fossils on the Giant’s Mountain, I
also appeal to Mr. Strickland, and at the same time I can assure the
Society that every one of the specimens we have exhibited came from
that locality and from near the summit of the hill; indeed, we ob-
tained the best in situ, from the fresh-cut side of a new road which
was then in process of construction. We also found the same forma-
tion on the European side of the Bosphorus between Therapia and
Constantinople, but no other locality afforded so many fossils. On
a subsequent occasion too, I had an opportunity of ascertaining that
the hill of Boulgourlou behind Scutari consists mainly of the same
formation, interstratified with beds of quartz rock, probably altered
sandstone ; here also I found a few imperfect traces of organic remains.
With regard to what M. Tchihatcheff says, of no one else having
since been able to detect these paleeozoic fossils on the Giant’s Moun-
tain, Mr. Strickland has already well remarked, that although the
geology of this mountain has been noticed with more or less exactness
by Andreossy, Fontanier, and the author of the ‘ Sketches of Turkey,’
not one of them has noticed its numerous and interesting fossils.

The only other point I have to notice respecting the neighbour-
hood of Constantinople, is the statement of M. Tchihatcheff, that
**Mr. Hamilton and others have marked as cretaceous the northern
shore of the Nicomedian Gulf,’ whereas the Devonian system is, as he
says, there clearly displayed. As I did not visit the Nicomedian Gulf
either by land or by water, I never have or could have ventured to pro-
nounce an opininion as to whether the northern shore of the gulf was
Devonian or cretaceous.

And here it is to be observed, that by reference to the last edition
of the Map of Russia published by Sir R. Murchison, in which the
geological structure of the neighbourhood of Constantinople is laid
down from the best authorities he could then refer to, it will be seen
that the north side of the Gulf of Nicomedia is coloured as palzeozoic,
and therefore the proposal of M. Tchihatcheff to erase the cretaceous
rocks, which were partially inserted in the first edition of that Map
(but not on my authority), has long since been anticipated. Finally,
as to whether these paleeozoic rocks be Silurian or Devonian it is not
for me to pronounce. It is possible that both formations may there
be found to exist, and in calling these Silurian, Mr. Strickland and
myself were simply guided by the best opinions we could then obtain ;

* See Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, vol. viii. p. 268, ** Notice Géo-
logique sur les environs de Constantinople, par M. de Verneuil.”

VOL. V.—PART I. 2C

364 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [April 4,

and I repeat, that at the period when we published our memoir, the
Devonian system had not been established nor its fossils defined. At
the same time, as M. Tchihatcheff and his friends have not been
able to detect fossils in the locality where we found them, viz.
the Giant’s Mountain, he can scarcely venture to pronounce defini-
tively upon the age of these rocks, from his having found Devonian
fossils in the more southern portion of the promontory, viz. on the
northern shore of the Gulf of Nicomedia. Until more precise re-
searches be made, it is not clear that both Silurian and Devonian
fossils may not exist in the paleeozoic rocks of that region.

The other observations of M. Tchihatcheff relate to the valley of
the Kizil Irmak and to the age of the red sandstone formation of the
eastern parts of Asia Minor.

1°. M. Tchihatcheff states that the Valley of the Kizil Irmak, in-
stead of being tertiary as it is marked in Murchison’s Map of Russia,
‘belongs to the enigmatical formation of gypsum and red sandstone
developed on a very large scale in Asia Minor, and which Mr. Ha-
milton supposes to belong to the Permian system.”

2°. M. Tchihatcheff considers this red sandstone formation to be-
long to the terrain nummulitique.

I am at a loss to understand where M. Tchihatcheff has ascer-
tained that I have described the Valley of the Kizil Irmak as tertiary,
or that I have called the red sandstone formation Permian. With
regard to the latter statement, it must be remembered, that when my
work on Asia Minor was published the very name was not known, nor
was it used as a geological expression until after Sir R. Murchison’s
researches in Russia in 1844.

And with regard to the nummulitic group, I shall be enabled to
show in the course of this memoir, that I was fully aware of its ex-
istence in this part of Asia Minor, and had already noticed its con-
nection with the red sandstone formation.

I now proceed to lay before the Society a statement of the geolo-
gical observations which I made in this part of Asia Minor, comprising
portions of Pontus and Galatia, commencing on the shores of the
Black Sea near the ancient site of Sinope, and extending in a S.E.
direction to Tocat, and thence in a W.S.W. direction as far as Sevri-
hissar on the frontiers of Phrygia. I will only observe, that as the
vividness of memory has been somewhat impaired by length of time,
I cannot attempt to fill up the lacunze of my journal so satisfactorily
as I might have done if undertaken at an earlier period; and, that
as not many sections were observed in this part of the country showing
the natural superpositions of the different formations, it would be
useless to attempt to give a complete section of the geological features
of the whole district. I must therefore confine myself, with few excep-
tions, to describing the different formations I observed, and pointing
out some of the principal localities where they occur. Much subsi-
diary information will be found in the various papers published in the
Transactions of the Society by Mr. Strickland and myself,—

1. On the Geology of the Thracian Bosphorus, by Mr. Strickland.

Vol. v. p. 360%

1849.] HAMILTON ON THE GEOLOGY OF ASIA MINOR. 365

2. On the Geology of part of Asia Minor (Cappadocia, &c.), by
Mr. Hamilton. Vol. v. p. 583.

3. Onthe Geology of the Western part of Asia Minor, by Messrs.
Hamilton and Strickland. Vol. vi. p. 1.

Respecting that portion of Asia Minor now more immediately under
consideration, I must also refer to a paper by Mr. Amsworth on Asia
Minor in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. ix.
p- 267 et seq. |

No idea can be formed of the general features and character of this
country, without taking into consideration the extent and variety of
igneous rocks by which it is everywhere penetrated and disturbed.
These are of every possible variety—granite of various qualities, green-
stones, domites, trachytes and trachytic conglomerates, like those de-
scribed in my former paper on the Geology of Cappadocia. One
distinctive feature however is, that the remarkable volcanic tuffs and
peperites, so abundant between Mount Argzeus and Hassan Dagh, do
not occur so frequently in this part of Asia Mmor, from which we may,
I think, conclude that it is of an older date.

The line of country to which my present remarks apply extends
from Tocat (lat. 36° 50' E.) to Sevrihissar (lat. 31° 35’ E.), and in a
general direction from E.N.E. to W.S.W. 280 miles; its extent from
N. to S. is irregular. The principal igneous rocks which I observed
in this district are granite, greenstone, porphyritic trap, serpentine,
trachyte and trachytic conglomerates, domite, basalt, and black vol-
canic tuff and peperite; and I propose briefly stating the chief loca-
lities where these different rocks came under my notice.

1. Granite*.—An elevated ridge of fine-graied grey granite,
sending out ramifications in several directions, surrounds the town of
Sevrihissar in a semicircular or elliptical form. At the eastern ex-
tremity of the igneous region about Angora, the red sandstone beds
repose against a mass of a dark granitic or rather syenitic rock.

2. Greenstone and green trappean rocks.—It is difficult to draw
any precise line with regard to the distinctive characters of these
rocks, passing as they do in this district by such gradual changes into
so many various forms. Generally speaking, rocks of this character
occur in the promontory of Sinope; in the castle hill of Boiavad ;
in the centre of the mountain range between Sinope and Boiavad ;
in the valley of the Iris six miles east of Tocat; near the village of
Boyeuk ten miles east of Barsek Dere, and in the deep and precipitous
gorge of Barsek Dere itself.

3. Porphyritie trap.—By this term I propose to designate those
igneous rocks which consist of small crystalline masses set in a homo-
geneous matrix of a darker colour. They occur a few miles west of
Amasia, between Ladik and Sonnisa ; in the valley of the Lycus below
Niksar, and in the vicinity of Angora, forming the base of the rocky
cliffs through a narrow gorge of which the stream of Angora flows ;
also a few miles east of Angora, apparently gradually passing into the
granitic rock described above, in the deep ravine of Barsek Dere.

* From the general abundance of hornblende this rock frequently passes into
syenite in this district.

2c 2

366 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [April 4,

4. Serpentine or Ophiolitic rocks.—This is generally an irregular
mass of crystallized matter, closely resembling the Verde di Prato
found in the neighbourhood of Florence. Its chief locality is in a
deep ravine between Alajah and Yeuzgatt ; I also observed it in the
valley of the Sepetl between Ladik and Sonnisa.

5. Trachyte and trachytic conglomerate.—This rock, varying much
in colour and in degrees of asperity as also im its structure, bemg
occasionally compact and hard, sometimes exfoliating, and at others
breaking into rhomboidal and wedge-shaped masses, is of very con-
stant occurrence throughout Asia Minor. Some of the varieties
abound with masses and crystals of glassy felspar. ‘The following are
the principal localities where I observed it :—the neighbourhood of
Vizier Keupri; the plain of Tashova between Sonnisa and the junc-
tion of the Lycus and the Iris; the isolated peak of Karahissar near
Tchorum ; the castle hill of Kalaijik ; the neighbourhood of Angora,
and the hill of Assarli Kaiya twenty miles south of Angora.

6. Domite.—The only locality where I observed this rock was in
the deep gorge of Barsek Dere ; it may indeed be doubted whether it
should not rather be described as a white variety of trachyte.

7. Basalt.—This occurs in the valley of the Lycus between Niksar
and Tashova ; at Baluk-kouyoumji and in the vicinity of Yeuzgatt.

8. Amygdaloid.—The only place where this rock occurs in this
district is in the north part of the Haimaneh, between Angora and
Baluk-kouyoumji.

9. Trap dykes are seen in the vicinity of Barsek Dere, and between
it and the Halys, rising above the surface and crossing each other in
every direction.

10. Volcanic tuff and peperite are seen in the hills west of Amasia
associated with trappean rocks.

Stratified Rocks.

The stratified rocks of this district are generally so deficient in
fossils, that it is at present almost premature to attempt any complete
or even general classification of them. I shall, however, here bring
together the different observations I have made, which will I trust
tend in some degree at least to give an idea of the general character-
istics of this country. I did not observe in this part of Asia Minor
any formations which could with certaimty be referred to an older
epoch than the secondary; I therefore propose, for the present, to
adopt the usual subdivision of secondary and tertiary formations.

1. Secondary Rocks.

In considering the secondary rocks of this region I have been in-
duced to divide them into two formations, chiefly if not entirely from
their lithological appearances, and also from having, on several occa-
sions, found those beds which I refer to the more recent formation
overlying the others, sometimes indeed dipping in the same direction
and at nearly the same angle, but leaving no doubt of their belonging
to a later period, and thus constituting perhaps the different ele-
ments of different ages. [I was nowhere fortunate enough to meet

1849.]| | HAMILTON ON THE GEOLOGY OF ASIA MINOR. 367

with them in immediate contact, so as to decide upon their degree of
conformability or separation. All that I was enabled to observe be-

ond what I have just mentioned was, that in that which I assume to
be the oldest, the schistose beds abound in masses and veins of quartz,
and assume a more indurated and grauwacke-like appearance, the
limestone beds becoming at the same time more crystalline and of a
darker hue, and sometimes giving out a very feetid smell on being
struck or fractured, while those which belong to the newer formation
graduate upwards into a compact cream-coloured scaglia. They may
be described as follows :—

1. The Lower Secondary, probably the representative of the Jurassic
or Oolitic system.

2. The Upper Secondary, probably corresponding with the Creta-
ceous system.

1. The Lower Secondary.—This formation consists of crystalline
limestone of various colours, sometimes associated with micaceous
schists, or with argillaceous and arenaceous beds penetrated by veins
of quartz ; the sandstones sometimes assume a compact and very grau-
wacke-like appearance, while the argillaceous beds are often altered into
jasper. In the limestone beds no traces of stratification are generally
visible, and no fossils were found in any of the beds attributed to
this system ; it occurs in the following localities : generally speaking
the whole of the mountainous district which extends along the
southern shore of the Black Sea from Sinope to Samstin, and be-
tween it and the valleys of the Kizil Irmak and the Lycus, or rather
through which those rivers have forced their way, consists of this
crystalline limestone and its subordinate beds of sandstones, shales and
schists more or less altered according to their vicinity to the igneous
rocks (see fig. 1).

Fic, J.

————

—

a. Trap rocks, 6. Altered sandstone. c. Micaceous sandstone.

At Boiavad the castle hill consists of this limestone associated with
beds of red and yellow talcose schists much contorted and in places
penetrated by veins of quartz (see fig.2). The gorge of Kara tep¢h,
about ten miles east of Boiavad, is a narrow defile through the same
formation ; the hills are chiefly limestone, thick-bedded, black and
white veined, emitting a rather foetid smell on being fractured.

368 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [April 4.

About a mile to the west of Ladik is a low ridge of grauwacke-
looking sandstone dipping 8.S.W. Immediately behind, 7. e. to the
south of, Ladik, is a range of limestone hills, an outher apparently
of the lofty cham of Ak Dagh which forms the watershed between

Fig. 2.
Section of Castle Hill, Botavad.

1. Igneous rock. 3. Schistose beds contorted.
2. Igneous rock, very fissile. 4. Pink-coloured scaglia, without traces of stratification.

Ladik and Amasia ; the dip of these beds is nearly vertical, and towards
the S.E.; the general strike of the hills is from E.N.E. to W.S.W.
The limestone is a hard, semicrystalline black and white marble, and
below it is a thick formation of irregularly bedded grauwacke sand-
stone, very hard, breaking mto rhomboidal masses, and containing
in some places veins of calcareous matter, but no organic remains.
Further eastward the grauwacke sandstone is seen dipping 70° S.S.W.

Proceeding eastward towards Niksar, a spur of this same formation
stretches across in a N.E. and 8.W. direction between the plains of
Tashova and Niksar, connecting the mountain-chain of Ophlimus on
the south with that of Paryadres on the north.

Between Niksar and Tocat, passing from the valley of the Lycus
to that of the Iris, thin-bedded argillaceous schists occasionaily
occur, dipping S. 70°; and on reaching the valley of the Iris and ap-
proaching Tocat, a fine crystalline grey marble is associated with these
same schists.

The lofty mountains which surround the town of Tocat are of the
same highly crystalline character, a true marble traversed by red veins,
and associated with beds of schists, some of which are extremely hard
and slaty, breaking off in large slabs and used as gravestones by the
Turks. In the marble beds no signs of stratification are visible, but
the schistose rocks show a considerable dip to the S.W.

The same formation occurs between Kalaijik and Angora, and also
to the eastward of Angora near the commencement of the igneous or
trappean district. These schistose beds evidently belong to the oldest
formations of the district, inasmuch as they appear to have been
disturbed previous to the deposition of the red sandstone.

Immediately to the eastward of the granitic outburst of Sevrihissar
is a very remarkable ridge of hills extending almost from north to
south, and terminating at its southern extremity in Mount Dindymus,

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370 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [April 4,

which overhangs the classic site of Pessinus. This ridge consists of
green and yellow micaceous or talcose schists, with an almost vertical
stratification and interstratified with crystalline limestone; in the
shale are also found veins and nodules of quartz.

2. The Upper Secondary.—The rocks which I refer to the scaglia,
or equivalents of the chalk of the south of Europe, are less crystalline
than the former. The limestones are associated with beds of a soft,
yellow, marly character, and occasionally contam a few nodules of
coarse flint of a darkish colour, and im some instances I detected on
the surfaces, impressions of branching fucoidal stems. They appear
along the coast of the Black Sea, to the south and south-east of
Sinope (see fig. 3), dipping to the N.E. at an angle of 45° or 50°;
also between the hot baths of Cauvsa and Ladik, and in the neigh-
bourhood of Zilleh and of Amasia, in the mountainous district be-
tween these two cities.

To the westward of Amasia, towards Tchorum, the same rocks
occur in various places in an almost vertical position, penetrated by
trappean or igneous rocks, forming the mass of the hilly country
and mountain chains to Tekia and Tchorum. West of Tekia the
hills consist of blue argillaceous shale, very much contorted and
penetrated by veins of crystallized carbonate of lime. Between Tcho-
rum and Yeuzgatt are two mountain ranges, the northernmost of
which consists of this same compact grey limestone and schistose
rocks. In some places the rocks have assumed the appearance of
red jasper, particularly near the centre of the ridge, probably the
effect of metamorphic action occasioned by the many outbursts of
igneous rocks which occur m the neighbourhood. The southern
chain also consists, in a great measure, of the same formation, and is
still more frequently penetrated and disturbed by igneous rocks.

In the neighbourhood of Boghaz Kieui, twenty miles north-west of
Yeuzgatt, this limestone formation is underlaid by trachytic and por-
phyritic rocks, which have been partly forced up through the im-
durated shales and jasper and partly underlie them. The limestone
rocks have been much broken up, and are thrown about in large
masses, giving a singular appearance to the scenery, and serving in
some cases as the site of an ancient acropolis. This is probably the
most western extension of the secondary limestone in this district ;
it is here succeeded on the west by the red sandstone or nummulitic
formation.

About sixteen or twenty miles E.S.E. of Angora, near the village
of Baluk-kouyoumji, is an outburst of slightly columnar trachyte,
which has elevated and thrown off in every direction a mass of thin-
bedded compact scaglia limestone ; this is in part extremely siliceous,
and contains both tabular and nodular flint. In some places too the
flit occurs regularly stratified and alternating with the limestone, re-
sembling the appearance of some of the beds in the island of Corfu.
To this same formation I refer the semicrystalline or coarse-grained
saccharine limestone which occurs nearer Angora on this same line.
It rises in a low round boss above the surface of the undulating plain,
and proved on examination to contain several species of marine bi-

1849. ] HAMILTON ON THE GEOLOGY OF ASIA MINOR. 371

valves, amongst which the following have been ascertained, and which
on the whole confirm me in the opinion that these rocks should be
referred to the cretaceous system; viz. :—

Terebratula, two species, but hardly enough remains to decide the
species ; one of them, being plicated, is decidedly not of the eocene or
nummulitic period, in which such a form does not occur.

Pecten, two species, one of them finely ribbed, and resembling Lima
in general form.

2. Tertiary Rocks.

The beds belonging to this formation may, for the present at least,
be classed in the followmg manner :—

1. Nummulitic limestone and red sandstone (eocene ?).

2. Basins of rock-salt, blue marl and gypsum (miocene 2).

3. Marine or brackish water formation, probably belonging to the
Aralo-Caspian system.

4. White lacustrine limestone with freshwater shells.

1. Nummulitic Limestone and Red Sandstone series.

Sir R. Murchison’s paper on the Alps and Apennines lately read
before the Society*, in which he has shown that the nummulitic
beds are the lowest group of the eocene formation, has given me a
clue to the geology of this part of Asia Mmor. It is not impro-
bable that as the red and yellow sandstones are linked on to, and
overlie the nummulitic limestones, they stand in precisely the same
place as the great overlying flysch of the Alps or upper macigno of
Italy, which Sir R. Murchison has classed with the eocene group.
With regard to the nummulitic limestone, I only discovered it im one
locality in this part of Asia Minor, viz. in the steep and broken gorge
of Barsek Dere, a few miles east of Kalaijik (see fig. 4), where the
narrow road winds down a steep and rocky glen, between almost per-
pendicular or vertical beds of red sandstone, broken up and pene-
trated, as I have observed, by numerous igneous rocks. These vertical
beds rest against another vertical bed of yellow limestone, which I
at first took for a trap dyke, so remarkably did it stand out in relief
against the softer and more easily decomposing red and yellow sand-
stones. The limestone bed contains, or rather is almost entirely made
up of, many nummulites of small size with other organic remains,
some of which appear to be bivalve shells. Mr. Morris is of opinion
that there are two distinct species of nummulites ; portions of Tere-
bratula are also visible.

This bed is overlaid by beds of red conglomerate and blue shale,
and is the lowest, or at least one of the lowest, members of the red
sandstone or older tertiary formation.

Another locality of this formation is indicated by the fossils on the
table from the neighbourhood of Beyjayes, thirty miles south-west
of Angora. I did not indeed trace them to their parent rock, but col-
lected them from the bed of a deep ravine in the white earthy lime-
stone; but judging from the numerous fragments, the parent rock,
although concealed, could not be very far distant.

* Since published in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. v. p. 157-312.

372 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SociETy. [April 4,

They consist of a remarkably thick Ostrea, which Mr. Morris con-
siders to belong to the nummulitic rocks, and a portion of a Cerithium
resembling the small end of C. giganteum.

As M. Tchihatcheff has already observed, this red sandstone for-
mation is extensively developed in a particular zone of Asia Minor,
extending from north to south between 32° and 35° of latitude ;
I am not aware of its existing either to the east or west of this zone,
although the overlying and unconformable gypsum, sand and marl
formations, hereafter to be described, have a far greater extension both
to the north and south. Ina paper published in the 5th vol. of the
Transactions of this Society, I have described the red sandstone forma-
tion as it occurs between Mount Argeeus and the great salt lake of Koch
Hissar, and have there left the question open whether it should be
referred to the secondary or to the tertiary formation. In another
place*, alluding to its existence in the districts now under considera-
tion, I have stated that although in its general appearance it is the
counterpart of the red sandstone districts of England, it must, geolo-
gically speaking, be of a much more recent date, masmuch as it con-
tains many pebbles of the scaglia limestone, considered to be the equi-
valent of our cretaceous beds, and must therefore be posterior rather
than anterior to the age of our chalk,—a conclusion which is con-
firmed by its connection with the nummulitic limestone, to which it
is evidently posterior.

The section fig. 4, constructed from the notes of my journal, will
show the relative position of this formation where I crossed it, for
both to the north and to the south of that line it extends further to
the east. It is everywhere much contorted and disturbed, being in
some places vertical, thus showing the comparatively recent age of
many of the igneous outbursts of this region ; and consists of a great
variety of beds of different degrees of hardness and of different shades
of red and yellow, the yellow being generally harder than the red.
Independently of its connection with the nummulitic limestone, one
cause of the interest attached to it is owing to the numerous mines of
rock-salt which appear to be associated with it ; one of them I visited
near Soungourli; two others have been visited and described by
Mr. Ainsworth.

To the north of Soungourli, towards the salt-mine of Chayan Kieui,
the hills consist first of alternating red and grey marls dipping
W.S.W. 20°; some of them contain beds of gravel and pebbles of
secondary limestone, red jasper and trap; proceeding to the north-
west are beds of hard red sandstone with an easterly dip, which gra-
dually increases until in the centre of the ridge it becomes almost ver-
tical. In the detritus in the valleys and plains are found many masses
of selenite; and where the red sandstone rock becomes vertical, I ob-
served in the sides of the ravines many thick veins of selenite, with
smaller ones running in every direction and intersecting each other.

Proceeding westward down the valley from Soungourh, the southern
prolongation of this line of vertical beds is seen on either side. A
wide plain then intervenes, beyond which the escarpment of another

* See Researches in Asia Minor, vol. i. pp. 405-6.

1849.| HAMILTON ON THE GEOLOGY OF ASIA MINOR. 373

line of hills of red sandstone rises, having an easterly dip of 50°,
which soon increases to 70° E., and then becoming gradually vertical
continues so for more than two miles; the beds here consist of alter-
nating red and grey sandstone, the grey being the hardest, and from
its greater power of resistance to the effects of weathering constituting
the highest ridges of the hills; the strike is here also from N. to S.
On reaching the Delhiji Su, the waters of which are highly saline, the .
red sandstone rocks which are still vertical suddenly cease, and are
succeeded unconformably by low hills of marl full of selenite and
horizontally stratified. Still proceeding to the westward, along the
line of section, the red sandstone beds with their associated marls and
conglomerates again appear about fifteen miles further west, and
about two miles east of their junction with the underlying nummulitic
limestone. ‘They are here seen dipping west at an angle of 45°, im-
mediately to the west of a great outburst of trap rock, by which they
have been probably elevated and broken off; as we ascend the hill
the angle of inclination of the red sandstone beds gradually dimi-
nishes, until on reaching the summit of the ridge it is almost hori-
zontal.

On descending into the deep gorge of Barsek Dere the beds are
again found after a short distance to be almost vertical, evidently
forming the western side of a deep synclinal trough. To the north
the red sandstone hills are conspicuously seen extending to a great
distance, whilst on the line of section they are cut off by the
igneous rocks which now become the predominating beds towards
Angora.

2. Basins of Rock-Salt, Blue Murl, Sand and Gypsum.

Although the basins of rock-salt, so far at least as I had an op-
portunity of examining them, do not occur in immediate connec-
tion with the gypseous beds of this formation, I have considered it
more correct to class them together on account of the uniform hori-
zontality of both formations, in contradistinction to the upturned
strata of the underlying nummulitic and red sandstone beds ; and I
call this the gypseous formation, although selenite undoubtedly occurs
abundantly in some of the red sandstone beds, in order to distinguish
it from the underlying unconformable formations.

The rock-salt occurs in small basins in the centre of the vertical
beds of red sandstone, the strike of which is north and south, and by
which it is entirely surrounded. The salt itself is perfectly horizon-
tal, very hard and compact, and is obtained by blasting it with gun-
powder ; the thin laminations or strata are slightly wavy and undu-
lating as well as its upper surface. It is overlaid by a thick bed of
horizontal blue clay four or five feet thick, over which is another bed
of clay, gravel and sand. The position of this salt is certainly very
remarkable ; it must have been formed not only subsequently to the
deposition of the red sandstones, but even subsequently to their
having been raised into their present vertical position (see Section
fig. 5).

374 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SocrIeTy. [April 4,

Big):
Beds of Rock Salt in Red Sandstone.

Nor is it an easy matter to account for its occurrence, for not only is
it in a very elevated position, but the basins themselves are too isolated
and of too limited an extent, to allow us to attribute the formation of
the salt to the evaporation of the water of the ancient sea, on the
elevation of these rocks above the surface. A more probable solution
is, that these basins became the receptacles of salt springs which
flowed into them from the surrounding hills, in which the saline
matter may have been chemically produced by the effect of gases
entering the red sandstone in consequence of igneous or volcanic
agency. Not being a chemist, I throw out this suggestion with much
hesitation, but I cannot account for the pheenomena in any other way.
May we not imagine that muriatic vapours, coming in contact with
the soda contaimed in the felspathic elements of the marls, would
enter into combination with that basis and produce the requisite saline
matter? I must also observe, that wherever I have had an opportunity
of examining the analyses of natural saline springs, I have invariably
found that the chlorine or muriatic acid enters into combination with
the soda, but not with the potass even when it is present. Thus,
whatever may be the opinion of chemists as to the greater affinity of
the chlorine for potash than for soda, it would appear that in the
great laboratory of nature such is not the case.

The other principal element of this formation consists of a yellow-
ish sandy marl containing numerous masses and crystals of selenite,
sometimes passing into distinct beds of sands and clays equally full
of similar small crystals. Mr. Ainsworth describes this formation
as constituting very extensive uplands, and evidently saw it deve-
loped on a larger scale than I did. In the neighbourhood of Vizier
Keupri it forms the low undulating hills of the plain, which rest against
the older semicrystalline limestone. The low hills which surround
the plain of Tchorum also consist of it, containmg masses of cal-
careous marl besides the crystals of selenite. I nowhere had an op-
portunity of discovering any fossils in this formation.

It also occurs to the west of the elevated and vertical ridge of red
sandstone west of Soungourli, where it forms low hills, horizontally
stratified, on the left bank of the DelhijiSu. Again, to the south-west
of Sevrihissar, after entering the great horizontal formation of Central
Anatolia, beds of crystalline gypsum and selenite crop out in the hills

1849.| HAMILTON ON THE GEOLOGY OF ASIA MINOR. 379

of white earthy limestone which there contains a few beds of flint
both tabular and in nodules.

3. Aralo-Caspian Formation?

Another tertiary formation remains to be described, although from
its isolated position, it is impossible to determine its exact relations
to the nummulitic and gypseous deposits of the Halys, from which it
is separated by the intervening range of the jurassic and cretaceous
deposits. It occurs on the promontory of Sinope, and forms the crest of
the hill to the north-east of the Greek town (see fig. 1). Here are first
seen thin horizontal beds of a loose calcareous sand intermixed with, and
overlaid by, hard beds of limestone with a few impressions of shells.
This is again overlaid by a bed of shelly limestone twenty or thirty
feet thick entirely made up of bivalve shells. The different parts of
the bed differ somewhat in consistency, and the shells are in different
degrees of preservation, some being hollow and crumbling, while
others are more filled up. They appear to belong chiefly to the
genera Cyrena and Cardium. Above this shelly limestone is a hard
compact calcareous rock, without fossils, but conformably stratified
to those beneath. These beds, and particularly that of shelly lime-
stone, had been extensively quarried by the ancient inhabitants, as
appeared from the quarries themselves, and the numerous blocks
occurring amongst the ancient ruins.

It was after an inspection of these fossils by Prof. E. Forbes soon
after my return to England, that Sir R. Murchison inserted suggest-
ively in his Map of Russia and the surrounding lands, that the lime-
stone of Sinope might prove to be a remnant of his large Aralo-Cas-
pian brackish deposit ; and I may here observe, that another instance
of the same deposit occurs further to the east at Platana, a few miles
to the west of Trebizond. Whether this conjecture be correct or not,
or whether this formation ought rather to be connected with the
older and purely marme miocene limestone of Southern Russia, more
accurate researches can alone determine. The Sinope limestone may
possibly indicate a transition from one of these conditions to the other.

4. White Lacustrine Limestone with Freshwater Shells.

It only remains for me to say a few words respecting the forma-
tion of white earthy, marly limestone which occupies such an exten-
sive area in the centre of Asia Minor, and which I believe to be the
most recent of all its formations. It has not inaptly been already
called a lacustrine formation, and has been described by Mr. Strick-
land and myself as occurring in large masses in many of the valleys of
Western Anatolia, It overlies that portion which I have described
near Sevrihissar as containing selenite, and extends south of Angora
and Sevrihissar into the great central district of the Haimaneh, a
district corresponding in great measure with the Axylus or woodless
country of the ancient geographers (see Strabo). It contains in a few
_ places freshwater fossils, amongst which Planorbis, Limnea and Palu-
dina are the most frequent. It occasionally contains nodules of flint,

376 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. {April 4,

which in some cases in the vicinity of igneous rocks have acquired an
opaline character.

I cannot conclude these remarks without expressing my regret that
the observations are so desultory and unconnected ; at the same time
I trust, that until we get the full result of M. Tchihatcheff’s more
extensive discoveries, they will afford some clue to the complicated
geology of this part of Asia Minor ; at all events they show the ex-
tent to which the different formations have been disturbed by igneous
agency at various periods. I look forward with great interest to the
publication of M. Tchihatcheff’s promised work.

2. On Tytostoma, a proposed Genus of Gasteropodous Mollusks.
By Danie SuHarpg, Ksq., F.G.S.

Among the organic remains of the beds belonging to the cretaceous
system in Portugal are many casts of univalve shells, which have
certain common characters entitling them to be classed together and
distinguishing them from any described genus. Few of the specimens
found retain any portion of the shell, and in no instance was I for-
tunate enough to find the shell perfectly preserved, so that the
specific descriptions are necessarily imperfect ; but there are among
them materials to show the generic characters nearly complete.

These shells are either globose or ovate, with a spire of moderate
elevation, and resembling in form either the Globiconche or certain
Natice and Phasianelle. The surface is nearly smooth. The mouth
is nearly semilunate, with the lips united in a regular curve ante-
riorly and meeting above at a sharp angle. The outer lip is thick-
ened internally by a callosity which reaches along its whole extent,
and which, in some of the species, is slightly toothed: this internal
callosity is repeated at regular intervals, which differ according to
the species, the most frequent repetition being twice, and the most
distant being once in a volution. The inner lip is expanded over the
body-whorl, and almost conceals the columella, which is probably
solid. At the periods of forming the internal callosity, the form of
the mouth is temporarily modified by the outer lip being somewhat
constricted, and by the aperture being lengthened at its upper ex-
tremity by a gradual rising of the upper edge of the whorl. A little
in advance of the callosity the aperture returns to its previous form ;
the outer lip expands again to its former dimensions, and the top of
the whorl slopes down gradually to its former level. Thus, at each
of these periods of growth the shell presents an external constriction
of the whorl, an internal thickening of the whole extent of the outer
lip, and a temporary rising of the upper edge of the whorl. These
changes become more marked as the shells increase in age: in the
young state, the shells show such slight traces of these peculiarities
that they can scarcely be distinguished from species of Globiconcha
or Natica.

The recurrent changes in the level of the upper edge of the whorl
give a peculiar unsymmetrical appearance to the spire, by which the

1849. | SHARPE ON THE GENUS TYLOSTOMA. 377

shells of this genus may be instantly recognised: in this respect they
bear some resemblance to several species of Ranella, with which
genus, however, there is no danger of confounding them, as they
have no canal nor notch to the aperture.

M. D’Orbigny’s genus Pterodonta, which belongs to a very dif-
ferent family of Gasteropods, presents some strong analogies to the
shells before us in having a longitudinal callosity within the outer lip.

These shells are abundant in Portugal in all the calcareous beds of
the upper and middle parts of the cretaceous system, and form a
most useful guide to the geologist in that country. It is remarkable
that they should have been rarely noticed elsewhere. One species is
figured without a name in a curious old Spanish work on Organic
Remains, ‘ Apparato para la Historia Natural Espanola,’ by Joseph
Torrubia, Madrid 1754; I have in consequence named it after that
author. The only other allusion to these shells which I have met with
occurs in the ‘ Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France,’ of the
15th of May 1843, vol. xiv. pp. 505-512, where they form part of
the subject of a rather warm controversy between M. Charles Des-
moulins and M. Alcide D’Orbigny, which I am forced to touch
upon, as the subject would otherwise be left incomplete.

M. Desmoulins objects to the genus Globiconcha, D’Orb., that it
is founded on imperfect specimens belonging in reality to Dolium,
and states that he possesses specimens of the G. Marrotiana, D’Orb.,
some of which have a longitudinal constriction (enfoncement longitu-
dinal) bounding the outer lip, and proving the existence of an inter-
nal callosity, followed by an external enlargement of the lip. Other
specimens show that the callosity of the mouth is repeated at inter-
vals; and others, that the columella is hollow; while certain of his
specimens show that the G. Marrotiana has not always the sunk
spire represented in the figure of the ‘ Paléontologie Francaise,’
pl. 170. fig. 1, 2, but has sometimes an elevated spire like that of
G. rotundata, pl. 167. fig. 17 of the same work.

There can be no doubt, that some, at least, of the specimens thus
referred to by M. Desmoulins belong to the genus Tylostoma; and
if the whole of the specimens mentioned by him really belong to
Globiconcha Marrotiana, there can be no necessity for a new genus ;
but the characters of the genus Globiconcha must be modified so as
to admit the species described in this paper. It is, however, impos-
sible to suppose that so acute an observer as M. D’Orbigny, in de-
scribing the genus Globiconcha, should have assigned to it a “labre
mince, sans dents,’’ if it really possessed the more important charac-
ters which are found in the genus Tylostoma, and that his artist
should also have omitted them entirely in the figures. Such an
omission might occur with small shells of the size of the G. rotun-
data and G. Fleuriausa, 1. c. figs. 17 & 18, which might be too
young to show the callosity of the lip; but in the larger specimens
figured of G. Marrotiana and G. ovula, pl. 170. figs. 1, 2 & 3, these
characters could not have been overlooked by the most inexperienced
observer. We must conclude, that M. Desmoulins, i drawing his
remarks from different specimens, has confounded together shells of

378 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [April 4,

different genera, and applied to Globiconcha characters which do not
belong to it. This supposition is strengthened by his placing together
shells with a sunk and an elevated spire, which are obviously of dif-
ferent species. Unfortunately, M. D’Orbigny’s answer in defence of
the place assigned to his genus Globiconcha in the family of the
Acteonide, is not sufficiently explicit as to its true generic characters
to clear up all doubts respecting it.

I have been forced to enter into the above details, to explain why
I cannot follow M. Desmoulins in uniting to the Globiconche the
species to be here described: a single remark will explain why they
should not be placed in the genus Dolium, as proposed by him,
namely that they have no canal nor notch to the aperture, and
therefore belong to the Phytophagous division of Gasteropoda.

The callosity inside the mouth has suggested the name T'ylostoma
for the genus, from rvAos, a callosity, and cropa, a mouth: it may
be thus defined :—

Tytostoma. Shell ovate or globose, thick and nearly smooth,
with a moderately elevated spire: aperture ovato-lunate, the lips
meeting above at a sharp angle; outer lip furnished internally along
its whole extent with a thickened edge, which is repeated at regular
intervals and accompanied by a temporary lengthening upwards of
the aperture; inner lip callous and spread over the body-whorl so
as almost to conceal the columella.

TyLostoma ToRRUBIA, nobis.
Torrubia, |.c. pl. 10. fig. 4.

Shell ovate, slightly flattened, with a produced spire formed of
about 8? volutions ; whorls evenly convex. Internal callosity of the
outer lip broad and flattened, repeated every half volution, and ac-
companied with a slight elongation of the mouth upwards.

Length 4 inches; breadth 2 inches in one direction, 2} inches in
the other.

Spiral angle about 65°.

From the thickening of the lip occurring at about every half volu-
tion, the shell has somewhat of the flattened form of Ranella: in
other respects this is less irregular, and shows the peculiarities of
the geuus less strongly than any of the other species. I have only
seen internal casts.

Very abundant in the limestones of the subcretaceous series, in
which it has been found at the following localities :—Condeixa ;
San Fagundo, about 13 league west of Coimbra; Sarjento-médr,
about 14 league north of Coimbra; Figueira; Mamarosa, on the
road from Aveiro to Coimbra; and in the cliffs north of Cintra at
the Praia de Macams.

Puate IX. fig. 1. Internal cast.

Fig. 2. The same on the side of the mouth.

TYLOSTOMA PUNCTATUM, nobis.

Shell broadly-ovate, with a pyramidal spire formed of about 6 vo-
lutions: whorls convex, tabulated above, giving a step-like outline to

Quart. Geol. Journ Vol V. Pl IX.

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1849. | SHARPE ON THE GENUS TYLOSTOMA. 379

the spire. Surface ornamented with numerous transverse rows of mi-
nute punctations set in shallow furrows, which are crossed by fine lines
of growth : the rows of punctations are rather distant in the upper part
of the whorl, but are crowded closely together near its base. Mouth
ovate, the upper angle somewhat rounded : outer lip with a very broad,
thick, internal callosity, which is repeated once in each volution.

Length 1} inch; breadth 14 inch.

Spiral angle about 70°. Sutural angle about 60°.

Abundant in limestone of the subcretaceous series at the village of
Sarjento-mor, 14 league north of Coimbra on the road to Oporto.

To the naked eye this shell appears nearly smooth, and it requires
a lens to show clearly the minute punctations which cover it: these
closely resemble the markings of Natica cassisiana, D’Orb. Terr.
Cret. pl. 175. fig. 3, but the shells may be readily distinguished by
the more tabulated outline of the Portuguese species.

Fig. 3. A specimen with the shell partly broken off.

Fig. 4. Another specimen on the side of the mouth.

Fig. 4a. Portion of the surface of the upper part of the whorl,
magnified.

Fig. 46. Portion of the surface of the lower part of the whorl,
magnified.

TYLOSTOMA GLOBOSUM, nobis.

Shell globose, with a very short spire formed of about 6 volutions :
whorls rounded, nearly smooth, marked only with very faint lines of
growth. Mouth narrow: outer lip with a thick subdenticulated in-
ternal longitudinal callosity, which is repeated at intervals equal to
5ths of the volution, and accompanied by a considerable rise in the
upper margin of the whorl.

Length 23 inches; breadth 21 inches in one direction, 14 inch in
the other.

Spiral angle rounded, between 100° and 110°.

Sutural angle varying in different parts of the whorl from 120° to
140°.

Abundant in limestone beds of the subcretaceous series. at the
following localities :—Figueira ; one league west of Montemor velho ;
San Fagundo, 14 league west of Coimbra; Sarjento-mor, 14 league
north of Coimbra. Rare in the upper beds of the hippurite lime-
stone on the west side of Lisbon.

Perhaps Globiconcha rotundata, D’ Orb. Terrains Crétacés, pl. 169.
fig. 17, may be the young of this shell before it has begun to form
the callosities inside the lip.

Fig. 5. A cast from the subcretaceous beds.

Fig. 6. Another specimen from the same beds, with a portion of
the shell preserved.

TYLOSTOMA OVATUM, nobis.

Shell broadly-ovate, with a moderately produced spire formed of
about 6 volutions: whorls convex: mouth subovate: outer lip with
a very thick, subdenticulated, internal callosity, which is repeated
at intervals equal to about 2ths of the volution, and is accompanied
by a very considerable rise in the upper margin of the whorl.

VOL. V.— PART I. 2D

380 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL society. [Jan. 31,

Length 23 inches ; breadth 2 iuches in one direction, 13 inch in the
other.

Spiral angle between 70° and 80°, rounded.

Sutural angle varying in different parts of the whorl from 100° to
130°.

Common in the upper beds of the hippurite limestone on the west
side of Lisbon. Abundant in the limestone beds of the subcretaceous
series at Condeixa; San Fagundo, 14 league west of Coimbra; Sarjento-
mor, 14 league north of Coimbra; in the cliffs of the Praia de Ma-
cams near Cintra.

This species is so close to 7’. globosum, that it is doubtful whether
they may not be identical ; but as we have only the casts to compare,
and there is a marked difference in the proportions of the two shells,
I have not ventured to unite them. 7’. ovatum is less globose, has
a higher spire and a broader aperture than 7. globosum: there is
also less difference of breadth between its two diameters than in the
latter shell.

Fig. 7. A cast from the subcretaceous beds.

Fig. 8. A cast from the hippurite limestone.

Notes on Remains of Fossil Reptiles discovered by Prof. Henry
Rogers of Pennsytvania, U.S., in Greensand Formations of
New Jersey. By Professor Owen, F.R.S., F.G.S. &e. &e.

[Abstract of paper read January 31st; see p. 329.]

THE paper descriptive of the series of fossils submitted to me in
November 1848 by Prof. Rogers, and read at the meeting of the
Society on the 3lst of January 1849, has been unfortunately lost ;
the rough notes taken on the inspection of the fossils have likewise
been mislaid, and I am compelled, therefore, in order that the benefit
designed by Prof. Rogers to English palzeontologists, by bringing over
the above collection of rare and valuable instructive fossils, should not
be wholly lost, to give now such notes as my restricted leisure will
permit of the specimens which have been selected for the subjects of
Plates X. & XI.

Figures | to 4, in Pl. X., are of cervical vertebree of a Crocodile
or Alligator, constructed upon the same (proceelian) type as those of
the existing species: 7. e. having the anterior surface of the body or
centrum concave and the posterior one (e, figs. 1 & 3) convex.

The numerous vertebree, cervical, dorsal, lumbar and caudal, of this
type, brought over by Prof. Rogers, were divisible into two series ; and
one of the most characteristic specimens of each of these series is here
selected to illustrate the difference, which shows that there were two
species of the same genus as the modern Crocodiles or Alligators,
which left their remains im the greensand deposits of the United
States. The vertebra in question is one of the middle cervical,
probably the fourth or fifth, in which the parapophysis (p) is still
near the lower part of the side of the centrum, the diapophysis (d)
wholly developed from the base of the neurapophysis (z), and in

1849.] OWEN ON FOSSIL REPTILES. 38]

which also a hypapophysis (Ay) is developed from the under surface
of the centrum.

The most marked difference between ‘the vertebre figs. 1 & 3 is
presented by the latter process: in fig. 1 it is double, or divided by
a median longitudinal cleft; in fig. 2 it is single, broad, flattened
and smooth below. These characters are well and accurately shown
in the figs. 2 & 4 of the inferior surface of the vertebree selected.
A corresponding modification of the hypapophysis was presented. by
other cervical and anterior dorsal vertebree of each series respectively.
But the specific distinction of the two is manifested by other charac-
ters. The cervical vertebra, figs. 3 & 4, is longer in proportion to
its breadth than figs. 1 & 2: the parapophysis, p in fig. 1, comes
off from the middle of the side of the centrum: in fig. 3 its origin is
more advanced, and extends to the border of the anterior articular
cup. And these characters were not those distinguishing different
positions of the vertebree in the same cervical series, any more than
those of the hypapophyses, but were characteristic of the other cer-
vical vertebree of each series respectively.

Two species therefore, of Crocodile or Alligator, were thus esta-
blished, equalling in size the existing Alligator lucius of the South-
ern States, or the Crocodilus acutus of Jamaica.

Neither these, nor any other existing Crocodile of which I have
had the opportunity of examiming and comparing the vertebree, pre-
sents the same characters of the hypapophyses which have been de-
scribed and figured in the above fossil vertebree. I regard the species,
therefore, to which these vertebre respectively belonged as extinct,
and agreeably with actual knowledge, the oldest of the modern Cro-
codilian family.

For the species characterized by vertebree of the type of that depicted
in figs. 1 & 2, I propose the name of Crocodilus basifissus; for the
species with the inferior process single, short and flattened, that of
Crocodilus basitruncatus: these specific names refer, of course, to
the characters of the basal or inferior process (hypapophysis) : as
the names Lamna gracilis, Otodus obliquus, &c. relate, not to the
proportions or direction of the whole body of the sharks so-called,
but of that part which is most characteristic of the extinct species,
and most commonly found in the fossil state. It is interesting to
observe that the same kind of modification varies the hypapophyses
of the cervical centrums of these Crocodiles, as the corresponding
processes from the centrum of the last cranial vertebra of the reptiles
figured in figs. 6 & 7, Pl. X.

The proportions of the vertebree of the Crocodilus basifissus re-
semble those of the vertebree of the Alligator: the longer vertebree
of the Crocodilus basitruncatus seem to me to have belonged rather
to a true Crocodile: in neither species are they so long and slender
as the corresponding vertebree of the Gavials or long-nosed proceelian
Crocodiles.

The vertebree figs. 1-6, Pl. XI., also appertain to the proczelian
type, and in the degree of the anterior concavity and posterior con-
vexity of the centrum most resemble the vertebree of the Mosasaurus.
They are, however, longer and more slender: the character of the

2p2

382 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 3],

caudal vertebree of the Mosasaurus, with their anchylosed hemal
arch, is well-known and sufficiently marked. That the vertebre in
question have not formed part of a tail of a reptile, is shown by
the entire absence of hypapophyses as well as hemapophyses from
the under surface of their centrum (see fig.2); from the side of
which, however, a large transverse process, probably a parapophysis
(d, fig. 1), has projected. That they had not come from the cervical
or abdominal regions of the spine of the Mosasaur was satisfactorily
proved by examples of vertebree of the true Mosasaurus Maximiliani,
from both those regions of the body, which were obtained by Prof.
H. Rogers from the same deposits and locality, and formed part of
the collection compared. The difference in the forms and propor-
tions of the vertebree in question with corresponding ones of the Mo-
sasaurus having diapophyses from the sides of the centrum, and no
hypapophyses, is so great, that I cannot refer them with any probabi-
lity to the same genus: they might belong to the Mosasauroid genus
Leiodon ; but in the absence of the confirmatory evidence of the teeth,
it seems preferable to refer the vertebrae in question to a new genus,
which I propose to call ‘ Macrosaurus,’ from the length of the body
indicated by the proportions of the vertebree. I have no doubt, ©
however, that it appertains to the Mosasauroid family of Lacertian
reptiles, not to the proceelian Crocodilia. |

The remains of the true Mosasaurus in Prof. H. Rogers’s collection
included teeth, numerous vertebree, bones of the extremities, and the
characteristic part of the cranium figured in PI. X. fig. 5. The teeth
and the vertebree showed the species to be identical with that so well
defined from the European Mosasaurus Hoffmanni by Prof. Goldfuss,
under the name of Mosasaurus Maximiliant. The lacertian affinities
of this singular genus of gigantic Sauria are well illustrated by the
basioccipital, Pl. X. fig. 5—a bone of the cranium of the Mosasaur
which has not before been described or figured. It presents, as in
other Sauria, a convexity towards the atlas, but sends downwards
from its under surface two diverging hypapophyses—a character met
with only in the Lacertian Sauria, and not in any of the Crocodilians.
The difference between the Crocodilian and Lacertian Reptiles in this
respect will be understood by comparing the figure of the basioccipital
of the Iguana (Pl. X. fig. 6) with that of the same bone in the Alli-
gator (fig. 7), in which, as in the Crocodiles and Gavials, the occipital
hypapophysis is a single, broad and thick process.

I regret much the loss of the MSS. containing the results of a very
careful study of the rich series of Mosasaurian fossils kindly submitted
to my examination by Prof. Rogers: they are alluded to by Sir H.
De la Beche in his ‘ Anniversary Address,’ p. 27, where he quotes
one of the remarks relative to certain metacarpal or metatarsal and
phalangial bones, viz. that “‘they imdicate the extremities of that
great Saurian to have been organized according to the type of the
existing Lacertia, and not of the Enaliosauria or marie lizards.”

IT conclude this unavoidably brief account of the greensand saurian
fossils by a notice of the very remarkable and well-defined form of
amphiceelian vertebra figured in Pl. XI. figs. 7—10. The subjects
of these figures are two vertebra! centrums from the anterior part of

gies

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1849. | OWEN ON FOSSIL REPTILES. 383

the thoracic region, in which the parapophysis (p) has ascended to
the upper border of the side of the centrum, whilst the hypapophysis
(A) still continues to be developed from the lower surface of the cen-
trum. The peculiar and distinctive character of these vertebree is
shown in the large size, and especially the great antero-posterior
extent of the hypapophysis. Its base occupies the whole extent of
the median line of the interior surface between the prominent borders
of the anterior and posterior articular ends of the centrum; and the
length of this large lamelliform hypapophysis seems to have been con-
siderable, since, in the vertebra, figs. 8, 10, in which upwards of half
an inch of its base is retained, there is little diminution of thickness
at the fractured surface.

The degree of concavity of the two articular extremities of the cen-
trum corresponds with that in the Teleosauroids, to which family of
amphiceelian Crocodilia these vertebree are referable. They indicate,
however, a particular genus in that family, of which, from their
stratum, it would seem to be the latest representative ; and I propose
_ the name Hyposaurus for this genus, m reference to the characteristic
process—the hypapophysis, and suggest that the species, when its
characters are more fully worked out, should be called after the di-
stinguished and amiable geologist to whom we are indebted for our
knowledge of the existence of such a Teleosauroid in the cretaceous era,

DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
PLATE X.

Fig. 1. Side view of the third or fourth cervical vertebra of the Crocodilus basi-
Jissus.

Fig. 2. Under view of the same vertebra.

Fig. 3. Side view of the corresponding vertebra of the Crocodilus basitruncatus.

Fig. 4. Under view of the same vertebra.
In all these figures, ¢ is the centrum, hy the hypapophysis, y the para-

pophysis, d the diapophysis, ” the fractured base of the neural arch.

Fig. 5. Back view of the basioccipital bone of the Mosasaurus Maximiliani: hy, its
hypapophyses.

Fig. 6. The same view of the basioccipital of an Iguana.

Fig. 7. The same view of the basioccipitai of a young Alligator.

PLATE XI.

Fig. 1. Side view of a cervical or anterior abdominal vertebra of the Macrosaurus
levis.

Fig. 2. Under view of the same vertebra.

ig. 3. Anterior concave articular surface of the same vertebra.

. Posterior convex articular surface of the same vertebra.

. A smaller vertebra of the same species.

. Posterior convex articular surface of the same vertebra.

. Side view of the centrum of an anterior dorsal vertebra of the Hyposaurus
Rogersii.

. Side view of a succeeding vertebra of the same species.

. Under view of the vertebra fig. 7.

0. Posterior subconcave articular surface (partially mutilated) of the ver-
tebra fig. 8.
In all these figures d is the diapopliysis, p the parapophysis, and hy the

hypapophysis.

In both Plates the figures are of tlie natural size.

a
Oo Nooo

384

DONATIONS
TO THE

LIBRARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

April \st to June 30th, 1849.

I. TRANSACTIONS AND JOURNALS.

Presented by the respective Societies and Editors.

AMERICAN Journal of Science. Second Series, vol. vil. nos. 20
and 21.

Philosophical Society, Proceedings. Vol. v. no. 41.
Athenzeum Journal, April to June.

Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, Annual Address, 1848.
Cornwall Polytechnic Society (Royal), Annual Report, 1848.

France, Société Géologique de, Bulletm. Deux. Série, tome iv.
f. 79-86; and tome vi. f. 11-18.

Geological Survey of the United Kingdom, Memoirs of the. Figures
and Descriptions of Fossils, Decade 1.

Indian Archipelago, Journal of the. Vol. iii. nos. 1-5.
Mining Almanack for 1849.

Munich Academy (Royal), Abhandlungen. Vol. v. part 2; Bulletin,
nos. 1-52, 1848.

Muséum d’ Histoire naturelle, Archives. Tome iv. liv. 3.
Philosophical Magazine, Aprilto June. From R. Taylor, Esq., F.G.S.

Yorkshire, Geological and Polytechnic Society of the West Riding.
Reports of the Proceedings, 1847-8.

Zoological Society, Transactions, vol. ii. part 6; Proceedings, nos.
181-189; Annual Report, 1848.

Zurich, Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in, Denkschrift zur Feier des
hundertjahrigen Stiftungfestes, November 1846 ; Mittheilungen,
Heft 1 & 2; Meteorologische Beobachtungen augestellt auf
Veranstaltung, 1837-1848.

DONATIONS. 385

Il. GEOLOGICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS.
Names in italics presented by Authors.

Berger, Reinholdus. De Fructibus et Seminibus ex Formatione
Lithanthracum.

Buckman, James. An Essay on the former Marine Conditions
which separated England and Wales.

Dana, James D. Notes on Upper California.
Review of Chambers’s Ancient Sea Margins.

Darwin, Charles. Geology, from the Manual of Scientific Inguiry.

Delaunay, M. Cenjecture sur la cause de la Chaleur centrale du
Globe terrestre.

Deville, Ch. Ste. Claire. Voyage géologique aux Antilles et aux
Tles de Ténériffe et de Fogo. Livy. i. & ii.

D Orbigny, Charles. Classification et principaux Caractéres miné-
ralogiques des Roches.

. Description sommaire des divers Terrains qui constituent

l Ecorce terrestre.

Elie de Beaumont, L. Note sur les Emanations volcaniques et mé-
talliféres.

. Note relative a l'une des causes présumables des Phéno-

ménes erratiques.

Encyclopzedia Metropolitana. Part 54, Mineralogy, by H. J. Brooke ;
and Part 55, Geology, by Prof. J. Phillips. From Prof. J. Ten-
nant, F.G.S.

Falconer, Hugh, M.D. and Capt. P. J. Cautley. Fauna Antiqua
Sivalensis. Illustrations to parts 7, 8 & 9.

Faraday, M., D.C.L. Experimental Researches in Electricity
(22nd Series), 1848.

Favre, Alphonse. Notice sur la Géologie du Tyrol Allemand.

Frodsham, Charles. A few Remarks upon the Aneroid Barometer.

Gibbes, R. W., M.D. Monograph of the Fossil Squalide of the
United States.

Goeppert, H. R., M.D. Zur Flora des Quadersandsteins in Schlesien.
-—-. Fossile Holzer gesammelt wahrend Middendorffs’ Sibi-
rischer Reise.

. Ueber Beobachtungen der in der alteren Kohlenformation
zuweilen in aufrechter Stellung vorkommenden Stimme.

eee

. Ueber pflanzenahnliche Einschliisse in den Chalcedonen.

Bericht tiber eine in den preussischen Rheinlanden und
einem Theile Westphalens unternommenen Reise zum zwecke
der Erforschung der fossilen Flora jener Gegenden.

386 DONATIONS.

Goeppert, H. R., M.D. Auszug aus der Uebersicht der Arbeiten
und Verdnderungen der Schlesischen Gesellschaft fiir vater-
landische Kultur im Jahre 1839, 1843, 1845 und 1847.

Humboldt, Alexander von. Cosmos. A Sketch of a Physical De-
scription of the Universe, 2 vols. From Dr. G. A. Mantell,
ViBSGS.

Jobert, A. C. G. Ideas, or Outlines of a New System of Philosophy.
Essay the 2nd and last.

Leonhard, Dr. K. C. von, und Dr. H. G. Bronn. Neues Jahrbuch
fiir Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie und Petrefaktenkunde,
1840-43. From Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, V.P.G.S.

Logan, W. E. Geological Survey of Canada. Report on the north
shore of Lake Huron, 1849.

Lubbock, Sir J. W. On the Theory of the Moon. Part 7.

Lyell, Sir Charles. A Second Visit to the United States of North
America. 2 vols.

Nattah, M. A. Catalogue of Books for 1849.
Nicol, James. Manual of Mineralogy.

Petermann, Augustus. On the Depression of the Dead Sea, and on
the Fall of the Jordan, as compared with that of British Rivers.

Pissis, M. Mémoire sur les Rapports qui existent entre la configu-
ration des Continents et la direction des Chaines de Montagnes.

THE

QUARTERLY JOURNAL

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON,

EDITED BY

THE ASSISTANT-SECRETARY OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

VOLUME THE FIFTH.

1849.

PART II. MISCELLANEOUS.

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CONTENTS OF PART IL.

Alphabetically arranged—the names of the Authors in capital letters.

Axsicu, Prof. H. On Natron lakes in the Plain of the Araxes ....
Altered tertiary rocks near Cairo, M. RUSSEGGER on............
Araxes, Prof. AnicH on Natron lakes in the plain of the ........

wamaenoe, Mi. IWotes on Trilobites: .. 0.26.60. eis cae ees
Bronn, Prof. H. Notice of his Index Paleontologicus..........
-——- On Paleontological Statics. v0.0. ed ber ee lee nica
Brown Coal formation, Prof. GOprPERT on the Flora of the........

MIceren teruary TOCKS NEUF! Jo... 6S eas ba eee ee.
Chalk, M. LEyMERIE on a new deposit parallel to the ..........
Coal beds on the Rhine, Prof. GOpPERT’s examination of ........

Durocuer, M. On the relation between the Mineral character of
eee mn MURECR WELIOL MILTON, 17 Sheltie Su SAS Macaw a) State OE aS

GoupFuss, Prof. On Orthacanthus Dechenil................65
GoprERT, Prof. Contributions to the Flora of the Brown Coal for-

MINUTE Uys te Tea ee Se ai, HERP Si Sead AS See hw ER
Examination of the Coal beds on the Rhine..............
Gypsum of Liineberg, Segeberg and Liibtheen, Dr. KARSTEN on..

Index Palzontologicus, Prof. BRONN’s, noticed .............08

Karsten, Dr. On the Gypsum of Lineberg, Segeberg and Lib-
MARE TAN the? Whe a tee MEE Sey eA erat ot MKS ae Gu OG eww

LassaiGneE, M. Analysis of the Mud of the Nile..............
LEYMERIE, M. Ona new deposit parallel to the Chalk ........

MEYER, M. Hermann v. Paleontological Notes ..............
Nile, M. LassaiGner’s Analysis of the Mud of the..............
Orthacanthus Dechenii, Prof. GoLDFUSS on..............00000.

Palzontological Notes by M. H. von MEYER .............. 0005

Page
26
1
26

Page
Palzontolopieal Staties by Prot. BRONN sie. on eh ee oe 39
Parschlug, M. UNGER on the Fossil Flora of ...........0.0004. il
Pentremites, Dr. RoEMER on jointed tentacles found on.......... 8
Roemer, Dr. F. On jointed tentacles or pinnule found on the
POMtRSMITES 6 6.5 6 os sare oie tHe Cee oe OO ee ose eee ae 8
Rovavtt,. M. Marie. - On:-the Test of Trilobites:<.... s.sc.0%..% 23
RusseGGer, M. On altered tertiary rocks near Cairo .......... 1

Trilobites, M. Marie Rovauvr on the Test-Ofg. os. cess on ve os ae ee
Uneer, Dr. F. On the Fossil Flora of Parschlug........ wm cat's a a

Vegetation, M. DurocHER on its relation to the Mineral character
ESOS nv tees 5 ates sop tte GR aoe SCS nine hace fe 35

TRANSLATIONS AND NOTICES

GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

On Altered Tertiary Rocks near Cairo.

Tur following remarkable case of metamorphosis in rocks adjoining
the alluvial land of Lower Egypt is well deserving the attention of
geologists, from the difficulty of assigning the cause or causes to
which the change of structure in so modern a sedimentary deposit can
be ascribed. It appears from Russegger’s geological map of Egypt,
that the nearest igneous rock is seventy miles distant, on the southern
flank of the mountain Dschebel Areidy, on the border of the Gulf of

Suez, in the parallel of the town of Benisuef on the Nile.
[L. H.]

[From Russegger’s Reisen in Europa, Asien und Afrika, B. i. s. 272-277.]

‘North-east from the Mokattam* the coarse limestone beds are
covered by a sandstone, consisting of a mixture of fragments of quartz,
agate, flint, chalcedony, hornstone and flinty slate, with a pretty uni-
form_grain, and of considerable hardness. It contains a few marine
organic remains, and, in my opinion, is an ancient marine diluvium.
This sandstone forms in general a plateau, with low flat-topped hill-
ocks, but rises here and there into groups of hills, the height of which
however is inferior to that of the Mokattam. It is the prevailing rock
throughout the whole Isthmus of Suez, and on the coast it is overlaid
by a recent marine formation. This sandstone contains siliceous
concretions, and also fragments of fossil wood, which is converted
wholly into silica.

«Tn several places this rock exhibits some remarkable alterations of
structure, which, at first sight, one is almost convinced must have been
occasioned by volcanic action. The grains of the sandstone appear
agglutinated, as if changed into the state of a frit; the mass appears
penetrated throughout by pure siliceous matter, which gives it a
homogeneous structure, until at last it acquires the aspect of a horn-
stone passing into an obsidian, with a flat conchoidal fracture and a
ringing sound when struck, like phonolite. This altered rock is in
parts remarkably beautiful, exhibiting all manner of colours, with a
lustre between greasy and vitreous. The included nodules appear

* A hill composed of nummulite limestone and other tertiary sedimentary rocks,
near Cairo, rising to a height of 430 feet above the Mediterranean.
VOL. V.—PART Il. B

Zz GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

little changed, except that at their exterior they appear to melt into
the surrounding mass. The rock has a remarkable resemblance to
those sandstones which have been long exposed to a very great heat in
a blast-furnace or glass-house, so that even the pure quartz and sub-
stances related to it have undergone a slight degree of fusion.

«This fritted and half-molten sandstone covers a large area in the
desert, and entire hills are composed of it. Moreover, we meet with
this appearance not only in the diluvial sandstone district of Lower
Egypt, but likewise in the tertiary sandstones of Upper Egypt, in the
red sandstone of Mount Sinai, in the tertiary variegated red sandstone
of Nubia, and, with the exception of Lower Egypt, frequently in the
vicinity of outbursts of unstratified rocks, such as granite, porphyry,
trachyte, &c. It is this last circumstance especially which, on viewing
this remarkable appearance, suggests the idea of volcanic action ; for
we conclude, and to a certain extent must necessarily conclude, that
heat was the agent in the formation of the above-named crystalline
rocks. Nevertheless we come to places where one must have a strong
prepossession in favour of igneous action to be able to discover any
trace of voleanic agency. When we meet with exactly the same ap-
pearances in the widely extended plains of the desert, far distant from
the above-named unstratified rocks, without a trace of any elevation,
any fissure, or any outburst, we naturally ask, where can the focus of
voleanic action have been ?

“Tt seems then that in this case we have to do with two powers,
which although essentially different, have in different ways produced
the same effects,—have given rise to the same appearances. The one
of these, voleanic action, caused by the vicinity of crystalline rocks,
im connection with their eruption; the other, a separation of the sili-
ceous matter in the sandstone, and an after-precipitation of it in cer-
tain places, causing the particles of the sandstone to assume a more or
less homogeneous structure,—an action similar to that which gives rise
to siliceous concretions. There is however this difference in this last
process, that the concretions are constituted of the precipitated ma-
terial only, and form a simple mineralogical body ; whereas the con-
cretions in the case in question present the appearance of the particles
of the precipitated matter, not combining with each other only, but
mixing up with the unaltered and altered constituents of the rock in
which the process has taken place, forming a new body, a newly com-
pounded stone, which becomes more homogeneous the greater the
action of the precipitated material, both in amount and in effect.

*“ Which of these two ways nature chose in each particular case I
will not venture to decide, and I therefore undertake only, as often
as this appearance presents itself, to describe the circumstances of
each locality in detail, leaving to those who are not contented with
knowing the facts only, to deduce from them such hypothesis or
theory, or by whatever name they choose to call it, as they may feel
inclined.

** One of the most remarkable places where this vitrified sandstone
may be seen is the Dschebel Achmar (the red mountain) north of the
Mokattam, and separated from it by a defile. This hill may be seen

ON ALTERED TERTIARY ROCKS NEAR CAIRO. 3

to the right of the road from Cairo to Abus-abel, rising in a sharp broken
outline to the height of 360 Paris feet above the Mediterranean. In
this hill there are some distinct traces of a volcanic eruption: even as
seen from a distance it is distinguished by its conical shape, and it is
also remarkable by the strong contrast of its brownish-red colour with
the pale yellow of the desert. Dschebel Achmar is wholly composed
of vitrified sandstone, and forms a distinct group of conical hills. In
the midst of these there is a wide crater-like hollow, the bottom of
which exhibits great inequalities, and which has openings on the N.W.
and S.E. The chief group, which encloses the crater, if it can be so
called, has a circumference of nearly 4000 fathoms (Alafter) = 44
miles. In the bottom of this crater there are several holes, how deep
I know not, which are perhaps rents in the rocks, that played an im-
portant part in the eruption, if there ever was one. The walls of
these sloping cracks are completely vitrified ; and to suppose that to
have been produced or even helped by artificial means is out of the
question. One of these clefts is still open to a considerable depth,
and then ends in broken masses. From Dschebel Achmar many
similar conical hills may be seen, but none of them equal to it in ex-
tent. It really appears as if the whole ground under the strata of
coarse limestone of the Mokattam had been im a state of volcanic ac-
tivity ; that the molten mass had burst through in several places and
overflowed at the surface, causing new secondary fusions and meta-
morphoses of the rocks. For besides the vitrified sandstone on
Dschebel Achmar, we see several kinds of stone which have all the
appearance of being nothing else than the rocks of the Mokattam,
vitrified and half melted. We see there, in short, the sand of the
desert, melted and in the state of frit, as well as the diluvial sandstone
of the isthmus. We see the sandy iron-shot clay that lies between
the siliceous limestone and the superior nummulite limestone, burnt
and melted. We see melted and vitrified siliceous limestone, vitrified
white earthy limestone, and also melted nummulite limestone, with
its included nodules and fossils wholly changed by the fire. We found
in the half-melted iron-shot clay some fossil wood, quite similar to that
commonly occurring in the Mokattam and its neighbourhood, but
entirely converted into hornstone ; also a white granular quartz in the
state of a frit, probably a melted ibwer bed of sandstone; and lastly,
we found some basalt-hke rocks, but without olivine, and consequently
their basaltic nature is certainly doubtful; and these rocks appear to
rise from a considerable depth, for I never saw them resting on the
round.

“If, taking into account what has just been said, I consider the
appearances which the localities present, the finding all the rocks of
the Mokattam, but in an altered condition, and not, as it would seem,
by the action of fire ; if further I consider, not so much the area which
is occupied by these remarkable rocks, but their mass, the fissures in
the crater-like hollow with vitrified sides, and such like, I cannot, on
the one hand, believe that there is nothing more in all this than con-
cretionary formations of the siliceous material; and still less can I
believe that it is the effect of formerly-existing thermal springs, now

+t GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

dried up. But, on the other hand, there are wanting many of those
criteria of extinct volcanic action which would lead me to lean with
confidence to the side of an igneous origin ; for with the exception of
the few loose fragments of a “basaltic rock, I miss every product of
extinct or active volcanos ; I see no lava, not one of the so-called plu-
tonic rocks. I missa ete undoubted crater, all lav a-streams, &e. ;
in short, the agreement with any one of the volcanos I have since seems
either i in respect of the nature of the rocks or the structure of the soil ;
in fine, of the whole habitus. Are the appearances to be explained
by supposing the rocks to have been altered by hot vapours? by the
action of some principle similar to that which in the island of Milo
has changed clay into porcelain jasper ?

“I believe that I ought to call upon every geological traveller who
visits the land of the pyramids not to omit to visit Dschebel Achmar.
As far as I know, I am the first who has examined it with reference
to science ; but Iam by no means convinced, and I say so with perfect
sincerity, of the soundness of my conclusions; and of this he will be
able to judge, who, free fron prejudice, will investigate the pheeno-
mena on the spot.”

Contributions to the Flora of the Brown-Coal Formation.
By Prof. Goprert.

[From Arbeiten der Schlesischen Gesellsch. 1847, p. 74. ]

In the year 1839 I examined some of the bituminous wood found in
the brown-coal formation in various districts of Northern Germany *,
and at that time described two species (Pinites Protolarix and Taz-
ites Ayckii), which, from the width of their distribution, seemed to
me peculiarly deserving of attention. More recently, in the work
published conjointly with Dr. Berendt in Danzig, on the vegetable
remains found in amber, I collected a flora, comprising fifty-four
species, which in regard to the genera could not be distinguished
from that of the brown-coal; although no brown-coal beds contain-
ing amber in its natural position have yet been certainly pointed out.
The amber which I formerly thought I had discovered in the brown-
coal at Muskau is nothing more than Retinasphalt. I now possess a
small stem covered with the bark, on which the resinous exudation
appears in drops, and many other fossil coniferee, among them even
Taxinese, show the same appearance, but none of them, so far as I
know, such an abundance of resin as the small stems and the frag-
ments of wood in my collection which produced the amber. These I
have figured and described in the work mentioned above, and they
have been seen by a great number both of German and foreign natu-
ralists. At present they must be regarded as the only remains which
give us any certain knowledge of the existence of at least one tree
producing amber, although I have no doubt that there were several.

* See a paper ‘On the bituminous and petrified wood recently discovered in the
basaltic tufa of the high Seelbachkopfe near Siegen, with remarks on the brown-
coal formation generally,’ in Karsten and v. Dechen’s Archiv, vol. xiv. p. 182 etc,

GOPPERT ON THE FLORA OF THE BROWN-COAL FORMATION. 09

Dr. Thomas, to whom I am indebted for many interesting contribu-
tions to my inquiries, having chemically examined several remains of
wood from the brown-coal deposits of the Samland, and found suc-
cinic acid in them, considers that these trees must also be added to
those producing amber, and that these deposits generally must be re-
garded as the place in which this substance originates. I would
however remark, that this fact alone cannot be considered as sufficient
proof, since succinic acid occurs as a product of oxidation of many
kinds of wax or fats, in many deposits of brown-coal, and even in the
resin of still-existing coniferze and several other plants, as in wormwood
and lettuce. The actual occurrence of amber in the wood or the layers
of bark can alone prove decisive, and justify us in regarding a fossil
as belonging to a tree producing amber. But even were the original
bed containing the amber-tree actually discovered on the coast of
Prussia, and that it may be so I have the less reason to doubt, from
having never visited the place myself, still the numerous facts col-
lected by my respected coadjutor, proving the wide drifting of the
amber by floods in the districts round the Baltic, lose nothing of their
value, and I can now only confirm their truth from many observations
which I have either made personally in Silesia and the Lausitz, or
obtained from others*. In not one of the many brown-coal beds
opened in our province has amber ever occurred, but always in the
undoubted drift deposits (tn rein aufgeschwemmtem Lande) above
them, generally very near the surface, in sand or loam-pits with many
boulders, and, as very lately above the brown-coal bed at Schwiebus,
with fragments of friable wood rounded on all the corners like drift-
wood, such as I never saw in our brown-coal deposits. The num-
ber of localities in both provinces known to me at present amounts to
ninety. 1 confine myself in these, as in all similar cases, entirely to
observations on which prejudice can have no influence, as I do not con-
sider myself qualified to decide on geognostic and geological questions ;
but I entreat geologists not to neglect such observations, especially at
present, when there seems a disposition unconditionally to recognise
our brown-coal deposits as the native place of the amber. I have
only interfered with this question so far as, from the existing mate-
rials, considered in a purely botanical point of view, I have endea-
voured to show, what hitherto had not been done, that there existed
at least one amber-bearing tree ; and at the same time, from the other
enclosed vegetable remains, to construct a picture of the co-existing
flora. A solution of the still unsettled problem of the original repo-
sitory of the amber I leave to geologists. Almost the whole of the
specimens of the amber-tree in my collection mentioned above show
distinct traces of having been drifted.

Continually occupied with the examination of the bituminous wood
found in the brown-coal deposits of Northern Germany and the Rhine,
I shall annex to these observations a few of the results obtained.

1. The predominance of Coniferee seems very remarkable. Among
300 specimens of bituminous wood collected in the Silesian brown-

* Julius Miller in der Allgem. Naturhist. Zeit. von Sachse, vol. i. 2 Heft.

6 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

coal deposits alone, only a very few (nur ein paar) other kinds of
dicotyledonous wood occur. This seems the more remarkable, since
in many places leaves of dicotyledonous trees with deciduous foliage
have been found in the clays of the brown-coal formation, and yet in
the coal-beds the trees on which we may suppose them to have grown
are wanting. This might be regarded as indicating a formation from
drift-wood, but the following considerations are opposed to this view.

In the brown-coal beds at Blumenthal near Neisse, wood of deci-
duous trees occurs along with twigs and fruits of a Taxus and Cu-
pressinea ; amongst the trees only Taxus and Cupressinea, with no
trace of any other kind of dicotyledonous tree. This seems an im-
portant fact, as perhaps leading to an explanation of this remarkable
phenomenon. I believe that during the process of maceration and
decomposition, to which the vegetation of the brown-coal forests was
subjected before it was buried between layers of earth and protected
from atmospheric influences, the deciduous-leaved trees lost their
organic connection sooner than the highly resinous wood of the coni-
feree, and hence fell to pieces, whilst the latter were for the most part
preserved,—a view, so far as I know, im harmony with the result of
experience on the duration of these kinds of wood in similar circum-
stances. I throw out this however only as a conjecture, which may
perhaps be subsequently confirmed by an examination of different
brown-coal deposits.

2. The number of species is on the whole very small in comparison
with the enormous mass of brown-coal they have contributed to form,
from which we may conclude that the coniferee of the ancient world
had a similar gregarious mode of growth with those that now flourish
on the earth. To prove this in certain beds, even for single species,
I collect as many specimens of different trunks or fragments of bitu-
minous wood as are to be found, and then examine them. From this
the predominance of certain species at once appears, and though
it may be justly remarked that several fragments of one and the same
tree may often occur, still frequent repetition of this somewhat labo-
rious process at last enables us to obtain a result approaching nearly
to certainty.

3. The fossil species are remarkably distinct from those of the pre-
sent coniferous flora of northern Germany ; few resemble our Pznus
Abies and Picea, and I have hitherto only found a single species with
the structure of Pinus sylvestris, or generally of the genus Pinus as
limited by Richard and Link; the greater part agree with Cupres-
sinea, if we may judge from the smooth bark of the larger stems, the
sharply-defined annual rings, the small number of cells contained in
a medullary ray, although there are exceptions to this rule ; whilst the
predominance even quantitatively of the form of Taxus, of which I can
well distinguish at least four species, is remarkable. Among them
are species of which the wood, formed of cells with thick walls, is
denser and more compact than that of the existing Taxus; but also
one species of uncommon lightness and with large cells, similar to the
wood of the North American Taxus montana, Nutt., or Torreya taxi-
folia, Arnott. My present as well as former researches show as a

GOPPERT ON THE FLORA OF THE BROWN-COAL FORMATION. 7

whole that a great similarity prevails between the flora of the brown-
coal and the flora of the temperate zone of the United States of North
America. This will appear more decisively when I am able to brig
together all the results bearing on this point.

All the species of Taxus observed in the brown-coal differ remark-
ably from those now existing in the three or fourfold striation of the
sides of the cells running at acute angles, whereas in the latter a single
fibre forms an almost horizontal spiral. In many brown-coal deposits
in Silesia as well as in Prussian Saxony (Nietleben near Halle, Wor-
schen, Gramschiitz, Rossbach near Weissenfels, Teuditz, Tollwitz
near Direnberg, Voigtstedt near Artern) species of Taxus seem to
predominate even quantitatively, and among them the Tawites Aychii
formerly described has an uncommonly wide distribution, not only in
the localities now named, but also occurs in the Rhenish brown-coal
deposits, in Hessenbriick near Laubach in the Wetterau, in Silesia,
the Lausitz, at Redlau near Danzig, in the Samland in Prussia, and
Ostrolenka in Poland. Further researches will undoubtedly show
similar results in relation to other species, as for example the Pinites
Protolariz.

4, Narrow annual rings, consequently a highly compressed growth,
such as in existing coniferze is only found, according to Martins, in
high northern latitudes, and according to my own observations for-
merly published, on high mountains, is constantly found prevailing
in the bituminous trees, and imparts to some of the wood an uncom-
mon density and weight, similar to that of the Guaiac wood. In
many species I have counted 15—20 annual rings in the breadth of a
line, of course in round stems, as in those pressed flat the influence
of the compression must also be taken into account, though in other
respects its influence, as for instance on the walls of cells, is less than
might be imagined. A stem of a Pinites Protolariz from the brown-
coal pits near Laasan, with a diameter of 12 inches in breadth and
16 inches in length, showed in this narrow circumference not fewer
than 700 annual rings. Yet in the ancient as in the present world,
there was a great diversity in the rate of growth even of the same
species, for in another nearly cylindrical stem of this tree 16 inches
in diameter, only 400 annual rings could be distinguished.

5. I have repeatedly observed on trunks and branches, the broken-
off twigs and branches grown over by new layers of wood, and to
my great joy in the brown-coal pit of Francisca at Popelwitz near
Nimptsch in Silesia, a stump of a conifera perfectly shut in by the
more recent layers, which might have served right well for a Krater
or drinking-cup, for which, as Theophrastus tells us, the ancient Thra-
cians used these stumps of the pine. As the same laws of vegetation
prevailed in the ancient and in the existing creation, there is nothing
singular in this observation, yet still it seemed to deserve a passing

notice. [J..N.]

8 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

On Jointed Tentacles or Pinnule, composed of Calc-spar, found
on the Ambulacral spaces of the Pentremites. By Dr. Frep.
ROEMER.

{Leonhard and Bronn’s Jahrbuch, 1848, p. 291.]

A FORTUNATE discovery in the beds of the carboniferous limestone on
Mount Sano, a hill near the town of Huntsville in Alabama, in North
America, has enabled me to add something to our knowledge of the
remarkable genus Pentremites, in consequence of which its position
in the system must be essentially altered.

The Pentremites, as is well known, exhibit on the surface of their
spherical or pear-shaped shell five distinctly bounded spaces, which
diverging like the rays of a star from the central opening above, pass
down the sides of the body and are piereed by longitudinal rows of
minute holes or pores. These divisions have been compared with the
ambulacral spaces of the Echinides; and in consequence, Say the
founder of the genus, Goldfuss and others who have subsequently
studied its characters, have considered the Pentremites as a connect-
ing link between the Crinoids and the Echinidee.

Hundreds and thousands of specimens, which I have either col-
lected myself in the Western States of the Union or seen in the mu-
seums there, all show these spaces penetrated by pores, and without
any appendage or covermg. In the specimen discovered in the above
locality in Alabama the case is different, as I shall now more minutely
describe.

The specimen is a Pentremite about an inch long, belonging to a
species intermediate to Pentremites florealis and P. pyriformis, Say.
Only one side of the body is visible ; the remainder is concealed in the
rock,—which also contains a fragment of that remarkable coral of the
genus Archimedes, Lesueur, which, not less than the Pentremites, is
characteristic of the lower division of the carboniferous limestone in
the Western States. The exposed side shows distinctly—two of the
three basal or pelvic jomts ;—two of Miller’s so-called scapulze, stand-
ing on the former and bifurcating so as to receive the supposed am-
bulacral spaces ;—further, one of the five trapezium-lke pieces which
stand on the obliquely truncated points of two adjoining scapulee* ;—
and lastly, two of the five so-called ambulacral spaces.

These spaces exhibit the truly singular peculiarity of the specimen.
They are covered with highly delicate appendages or tentacles, com-
posed of minute fragments of calc-spar, and placed close together in
two regular longitudinal rows on each space.

The structure of these appendages is similar to that of the tentacles
or pinnulee (as they are more correctly named by Johannes Miiller
in contradistinction to the membranous feelers or tentacles, which also
appear there) on the arms of the Crinoids.

The basis of each of them is formed by a single portion of cale-spar
which is obtusely bevelled above ; to this succeeds still smaller thin-

* These have not been observed by any one except Dr. Troost, who has con-
tributed so much to our knowledge of the natural history of the Western States.
Compare Transactions of the Geol. Soc. of Pennsylvania, vol. i. p. 224 ef seg.

ROEMER ON THE PENTREMITES. 9

ner laminze in two rows alternating with each other, and at length
towards the extremity larger laminar pieces in a single row. In the
specimen described the last are placed vertical to the plane of the
tentacular space (iihlerfeld), whilst the other part of the appendage
lies with its broad side on the plane of the space.

The length of the pinnulz is very considerable in relation to their
thickness: some of those originating at the lower extremity of the
field can be followed even beyond the point of the interscapulary tra-
pezoidal piece.

The direction of all these appendages is very accurately towards
the vertex of the shell; consequently in the middle of the tentacular
space they lie thickly compressed on each other, and this seems to
have caused that half-turning round of the tentacles, so that the
laminar portion of the upper extremity comes to be vertical to the
shell.

The number of the pinnule in each row of a space (Fe/d) is about
fifty, which is also about the number of the holes in a row of the un-
covered, so-called, ambulacral space of a Pentremite of nearly the
same size.

In the annexed drawings, which my friend Dr. Ewald has had the
kindness to prepare, all the circumstances described are represented
with remarkable fidelity and care, and render any further description
unnecessary.

Fig. 6. Fis.

“STE

we
ee

See ee

Fila, \)

SORE

Fig. a. is a view of the specimen of the natural size.

Fig. 6. a view of a tentacular space with the pinnule, magnified
two times.

Fig. c. a single pinnula, magnified three times.
The most general result regarding the structure of the Pentremite

that may be deduced from the consideration of this specimen is :—
“The minute pores which penetrate the ambulacral spaces of

10 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

the Pentremites in two marginal longitudinal rows are not, as was
formerly supposed, intended for the passage of soft membranous
feelers, like the holes on the tentacular spaces of the Echinidze, but
they are canals for nourishing appendages composed of portions of
calc-spar, and formed in the same manner as the pinnulee on the arms
of Crinoids.”’

With this the approximation of the Pentremites to the Echinites
hitherto generally received falls to the ground, as no longer capable
of being maintained*. The Pentremites are genuine Crinoids, which
instead of a limited number of compound arms, are provided with
numerous, definitely-arranged, simple, undivided appendages, com-
posed of pieces of cale-spar.

They form a peculiar group among the Crinoids, characterized not
only by the numerous, simple, arm-like appendages, but also by the
five large openings placed round the central vertical opening, and by
a peculiar simple disposition of the plates of the cup.

In the absence of true compound arms, the Blastoideze (the family
name already given to them by Say) agree with the Cystideze of L.
von Buch. The scars (arden) which occur near the mouth m some
of the latter may have been the points of attachment for similar
simple appendages ; but many arms could not have been placed there,
as has already been distinctly stated in the celebrated monograph of
the family.

In conclusion, we must say one word in regard to the physiological
purpose of the arm-like appendages now described in the Pentremites.
The pinnule of the Comatulee and Pentacrini with which these ap-
pendages may be most suitably compared, have, according to Johannes
Miller, a twofold purpose. In the first place, they serve to seize and
to convey to the mouth the food necessary to the support of the ani-
mal; and in the second, the male and female reproductive organs are
situated at the base of these pinnulee.

It is in every respect very probable that the appendages of the
Pentremites may have served for the first purpose, and the definite
direction which they all assume towards the central opening in the
vertex, which undoubtedly corresponds to the mouth, confirms this
view. On the other hand, it is impossible that the reproductive
organs can have been placed at their basis, if, as seems necessary, we
consider the five openings on the top surrounding the central one of
the mouth as the ovarial openings.

That these arm-like appendages of the Pentremites should not have
been previously observed, does not seem remarkable when their ex-
tremely delicate structure is considered, and we must rather ascribe it
to some peculiarly favourable conditions during petrifaction that they
have been preserved even in a single case.

Though not immediately connected with what precedes, I must

* That the formation of the so-called ambulacral spaces themselves, and the
position of the holes upon them, is entirely different from that of the tentacular
spaces of the Echinites, can only be indicated in this place. The more complete
exposition of the fact must be reserved for a connected work on the genus Penére-
mites, for which I have collected rich materials in North America.

UNGER ON THE FOSSIL FLORA OF PARSCHLUG. ll

remark that the genus Pentremites was also represented in the Silu-
rian division of the palzeozoic formations. A species described some
years ago by Dr. Troost as Pentremites Reinwardti, I have myself
found very abundantly in the vicmity of Perryville, in the state of
Tennessee, along with Caryocrinus ornatus, in strata identical in age
with the Niagara group of the New York geologists, and consequently
with the Wenlock limestone of England. [J. N.]

————

The Fossil Flora of ParscuituG. By F. UNGER.

[From Steyermiarkische Zeitschr., 4, ix. Jhrg., 1 Heft, in Leon. and Bronn’s Jahrb.
1848, p. 505.]

A very limited space around Parschlug has already furnished 141
species of fossil plants. This place is situated in the valley of the
Wurz, which runs for eight (thirty-seven English) miles from north-
east to south-west, and is nowhere above half a mile (21 English)
broad, and is inclosed by lofty mountains of the slate-formation, whose
summits are from four to six thousand feet high. This valley during
the tertiary period appears to have been shut up at the lower extre-
mity, and to have formed a lake in which lacustrine beds with shells
of freshwater mollusks (Unio), shells of Cypris, wing-cases of Coleo-
ptera, and especially portions of plants, were deposited. The series
of tertiary strata is as follows :—

15. Surface soil.

14. Whitish yellow marl-shales ............ccccscsscsssscsceeceeees Some fathoms.
13. Hard marl-shales with the best impressions of plants, and
GUA YeIEOUSLOBG) tists cnad ey daeesp sapien sre} o> oe enepaanccnncsebainase 5 inches.
em SIRRE IOAN 26s sate voted annenac + 8pcas dup -speessacessse9s 7 feet.
11. Blackish brown slate-clay with leaf impressions ............ Thin.
eepeercu-coal-nad sigbe-coml\ 9), 0085: MEE Oe dale. 7 feet.
ME MNGE SiCATLI, Financ dvds vane xo semodeebhOdslis. PEK L tt eGo Thin.
8. Black lignite (browWN COAL) 4.) s,\asaiee segs 5- 0b es ponenesseesnens 3 feet.
eer tel vc shoe en adh’ Li cearacetance nels saree 6 feet.
Rebs CRE) TAU L-SIABE c22 p20 50 yee lowme cases scssabiccsscgpecsese nesters Thin.
UUM Ot os Ate mitccaccsscasen dette, ecatccetss ts cm oes eents 9 feet.
A Black lignite !(Urown oa) 23.02 eee ee aide 2 feet.
3. Compact marl-slate with shells ...............ccescsecveecscsoes 8 inches.
2. Black slaty lignite (brown coal) on slate-clay and sand ... 6 feet.
1. Fine-grained quartzose sandstone.

The beds are inclined at 22° to h. 93 (S.373° W.), and are covered by
horizontal diluvial beds. The vegetable remains consist of leaves,
bud-scales, winged seeds and fruits, pods and other parts of the fruit,
branches without leaves, fragments of bark, rarely nuts and stone-fruits,
catkins of flowers and seeds. It is the autumnal stripping (4Gfille)
of a forest vegetation, composed, according to the indications here
preserved, almost exclusively of trees and brushwood, with which five
plants are associated, which may have lived im marshy places in the
woods ; but no traces of water-plants have as yet occurred. All the
characters lead us to believe that soon after their fall from the trees
these remains were collected by an inundation of a stream from a
wide-extended river-basin (for so great a variety of trees are never

12 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

found growing in a limited district), and carried with a gentle imeli-
nation ito a lake, where they were deposited along with the mud.
The number of trees with ever-green leaves, together yaa a with
leathery (héutigen) foliage, indicates a climate of 12°—17° C. (54°
—63° Fahr.) ; and as there are no palms among them which suppose
an annual temperature of 15° C. (59° F.), we may assume that the
climate of Parschlug (which at present is only 9° C. (485° F.)) was
during the tertiary period 12°—15° C. (54°—-59° F.), corresponding
in Europe to 45°—42° of N. lat., or the shores of the Mediterranean ;
in North America to 43°—37° N. lat., or southern Virginia. In its
special character this fossil flora agrees with that of the southern
parts of the United States of North “America and of Upper Mexico.
In sixty-seven genera (Sippen) there are indeed above forty which
belong both to the old and new continents, but in the remainder only
Paliurus, Zizyphus and Celastrus are confined at present to the old
world, whereas on the other hand, Tavodium, Liquidambar, Comp-
tonia, Achras, Prinos, Nemopanthes, Ceanothus, Smilax, Robinia
and Amorpha, occur exclusively in America. In like manner the
number of species which have their nearest allies on the Mediterranean
are only twelve, whereas those related to American species are twice
as many, and also greatly preponderate in the number of individuals.
The author does not think that any species still existing occurs among
them, for although some remains cannot be distinguished from the
corresponding par rts of living g plants, yet he believes that as the greater
number are certainly distinct, we must draw the same conclusion re-
garding the few that remain*.

Besides Parschlug, where a tooth of the Mastodon angustidens was
found in the coal, there are some other localities of tertiary plants, as
Aflenz and Turnau (where the miocene Dorcatherium Nauwi has oc-
eurred), Winkel, Hauenstein, Judenburg and Leoben, which however
have not furnished many well-preserved species, and very few identical
with those of Parschlug, a greater number indeed agreeing more nearly
with those of other remoter localities} (although if we rightly under-
stand the author, he considers the formations at Winkel, Leoben, &c.,
as identical with that of Parschlug). Parschlug likewise shows more
agreement with distant localities, as Oningen, Bilm, Radobo} and
Hiring, some of which have produced also insects, fishes, reptiles, and
mammalia, and must in like manner be regarded as miocene; and in
respect of the plants, insects and reptiles, possess, according to the
researches of Al. Braun, Osw. Heer, and Herm. v. Meyer, a closer
relationship to North America, Japan, and the Mediterranean coun-

* Since it is beyond all doubt that the tertiary strata contain species of mollusks
and mammalia which still occur living, so that the proportion of recent shells in
different deposits is found = 0:20 — 0:50 — 0°80 — 0:95, and R. Owen estimates
that of the mammalia in England at 0°50, it seems to us, as we have often stated,
juster and more unprejudiced to allow those things to remain united which we
cannot distinguish, especially as the opposite conduct leads to results to which no
end can be assigned. Why should we, by violent separations, produce forced ex-
ceptions to the universal laws of nature ?—Zdit. L. & B.’s Jahr.

+ The difference does not however seem of much importance, and in consequence
of the small number of species known from these places, perhaps only accidental.

MEYER’S PALZONTOLOGICAL NOTES. 13

tries of Europe, than to the present fauna and flora of the districts
themselves. It seems therefore that even during the miocene tertiary
period itself, various successive floras have flourished in these coun-
tries. The author is of the opinion that the miocene fauna and flora
had a uniform character over the whole earth ; that this character has
continued to exist im those regions whose temperature and local pecu-.
liarities have remained unchanged; but that where, in consequence
of alterations in the relievo of the earth’s surface, the temperature
and other conditions have also been modified, there the species have
not emigrated, but gradually (as species) become extinct, whilst other
species of a different type have taken their place. Where, however,
the temperature has remained uniform, there the successive species
have retained the original character, and in this way the agreement of
this fragment of the European tertiary flora with that now existing
in North America, on the shores of the Mediterranean, and in Japan,
may be explained. The author intends to describe the new species
in detail in his ‘Genera et Species Plantarum Fossilium,’ but in this
place gives only the names*. Several are already described by Unger —
(Chloris protogea), Alex. Braun and Brongniart. [J. N.]

Paleontological Notes. By HerMANN v. MEYER.
[From Leonhard and Bronn’s Jahrbuch, 1848, p. 465.]

HoLZERWIED near Bussenhausen, in the Canton Zurich, must now
be added to the localities in Switzerland in which the diluvial Loss
contains remains only of the Hlephas primigenius, as Herr A. Escher
von der Linth has sent me some teeth of this animal of a calcined
aspect from that place. More importance attaches to the occurrence
of this elephant in the diluvial slate-coal, which much resembles
brown-coal, at Diirnten, a league from Rapperswyl, where a large
molar tooth has been found of a brown colour like walnut wood, and
thus very similar to teeth from the tertiary brown-coals. This coal
deposit represents the oldest diluvial fillmg-up of the valleys in the
Swiss Alps, and contains plants which Heer was not able to distin-
guish from those now living in moist places in Switzerland. Near
Utznach, this slate-coal furnished the tooth of a large ruminant re-
sembling the deer. The occurrence of Elephas in this situation re-
minds me of a Mammoth skeleton dug out at Troitskoé near Moskau,
and described by Rouillier. The upright position in a marsh, in
which the animal was found, shows distinctly that it had been buried
in the mud when venturing too far on the soft ground in search of
food. The formation at Moskau also consists of a fine laminated
mass resembling brown-coal, containing fishes, infusoria and plants
of species still hving in the neighbourhood. I would also draw at-
tention to an observation recorded in my ‘ Paleontologica,’ p. 540,
according to which the Lvephas occurred with remains of the ox, stag,
fishes, shells and plants, in a turf-like diluvial bed at Wittigendorf

* The list will be found in Leonhard and Bronn’s ‘ Jahrbuch,’ but it has not
seemed necessary to reprint it in this place.

14 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

near Sprottau. All these places are only the natural abodes of the
ancient elephant, where it found its food, consisting of species of
plants, which were not distinct from those that still flourish in these
localities. Such facts refute the groundless hypothesis, that the re-
mains of elephants were transported by great floods from distant re-
gions to the places where they are now found ; or that the species was
only enabled to exist in them by the influence of external causes or
great changes in climate. They also testify to the truth of a view
which I have long adopted, that there is some internal cause of this
phzenomenon, through which, even in historical times, the extinction
and geographical distribution of species have been limited.

Goldfuss in his work on the Archegosaurus describes the skull
of an animal, from the stone-coal formation of Heimskirchen near
Kaiserslautern, which he names Sclerocephalus, as that of a fish. It
seems to me to have more resemblance to that of the Labyrintho-
donts than even the dArchegosaurus, and consequently may as well as
this genus be added to the Saurians.

Professor E. Schmid of Jena has recently entrusted to me his
whole collection of fossil vertebrate animals from the muschelkalk
of that district. To it was added two new species of Ammonites from
the celestine strata in the lower muschelkalk at Wogau; one of them
is a very beautiful species which I have named A. (Ceratites) Wogau-
ensis. Itis nearest the 4. (Ceratites) enodis, Quenst., but is smaller,
and the back is not arched but acute, thus giving a different cha-
racter to the sides; it is perfectly smooth, and even the sutures do
not agree with those of the species compared with it.

The remains of saurians in this collection formed a very accept-
able addition to my ‘ Monograph of the Saurians of the Muschelkalk.’
Previously I only knew from the vicinity of Jena those remains which
Count Minster had received from Professor Schmid; and it is of
great importance that I now have the use of Schmid’s own collection.
The muschelkalk saurians of Jena were mostly of small dimensions ;
but one rib bespeaks a large animal. The collection contains the
humeri, always the most important bone, of eight smaller species,
belonging to more than one genus; and the large rib indicates a
ninth species. Formerly I knew no humerus from the muschelkalk
in which the foramen for the passage of the ulnar artery was want-
ing; but this is the case in one of the Jena bones, a circumstance
hardly accidental, as the bone otherwise indicates a peculiar species.
A humeral bone in the collection of Count Minster also shows the
existence of another species, so that there were at least ten saurians
in the muschelkalk of Jena ; and among these humeri there is scarcely
one that agrees with the bones from Upper Silesia or other localities
in this formation. ‘The coracoid bones in Schmid’s collection belong
to six species, two others are found in that of Count Minster, and
this bone in the large species is still wanting; so that the coracoid
bones from Jena also point to the existence of nine species, most of
them distinct from those of other districts. These collections contain
the scapulze of four small species, the femoral bones of three species,
and the pelvic bones of at least four species ; all, as well as the small

MEYER’S PALZONTOLOGICAL NOTES. 15

vertebrze, showing no complete agreement with the bones from Upper
Silesia or other countries. The teeth resemble those of the Notho-
saurus. Labyrinthodonts as yet are entirely wanting. Besides these
there has been found : in the bone-beds of the muschelkalk of Wogan
the humerus of two species, but not distinct from those of Jena; in
the Wellenkalk (lower muschelkalk) of Lobedaburg a tooth of a
small species, formed like that of the Nothosaurus ; m the bone-
breccia of the muschelkalk of Keilhau near Rudolstadt, vertebrze of
a very small species; in the terebratula-limestone of Zwetzen, a bone
of the pelvis ; in the highest beds of the muschelkalk at Mertendorf,
three leagues from Jena, a humerus ; and in the keuper-limestone of
Vieckberg near Apolda, a large, nothosaurus-like tooth.

The fishes from this district, with those from Querfurth and from
Upper Silesia, will be described by me in one of the early numbers
of the ‘ Palzeontographica,’ the plates being already lithographed.
‘Besides scales and an unimportant fragment of the jaw of a small fish
with cylindrical teeth, the proper muschelkalk of Jena has only fur-
nished the Saurichthys tenuirostris, of which Agassiz (Pois. Foss. ii.
b, p. 88) incorrectly states that it only occurs in the muschelkalk of
Bavaria, where it is entirely unknown. It is confined to Jena, and
occasionally occurs also at Querfurth, from which the specimen was
derived which Biittner long ago figured (Rudera testis diluvii, 1710).
The glauconite muschelkalk of Mattstadt near Apolda contains teeth
of Saurichthys Mougeoti. More important is the terebratula-lime-
stone of Zwetzen, contaimmg teeth of Placodus, which, besides Pla-
codus gigas, seem to have belonged also to another species. The
most interesting specimen from Zwetzen is a jaw with several teeth
of a new genus of fish also of a large size, which from the dome or
cupola-like form of the top of the teeth I have named Tholodus, and
this species Tholodus Schmidi. It is best placed near Acrodus, though
the teeth are wholly distinct.

In the ‘Athenzeum’ for June 5, 1847, Sir R. Murchison has
published a letter of Agassiz from America, in which he expresses
his astonishment at the analogy which exists between the types of
life in the temperate regions of North America, and those in the
molasse of Oningen. He believes consequently that these deposits
were formed in a climate that was not tropical, and in this compari-
son he also introduces Japan. ‘These are exactly the same views that
were already published in my work on ‘The Fossil Mammalia, Birds
and Reptiles, from the Molasse Marls of Oningen,’ which work
Agassiz knew before his journey to America. In that work I have
not only pointed out the close relation which the tertiary Oningen,
without renouncing its European character, still bore to the present
North America and Japan ; and also came to the conclusion that the
tertiary creatures of Oningen required for their existence a climate
not at all warmer than that which now prevails in the region of
Oningen, so that the assumption of a tropical climate in which the
animals of the molasse have lived, is anything but well founded.

In Tayler’s museum at Haarlem, which I visited in August 1847,
I saw the beautiful remains of the Mastodon found at Oningen,

16 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

which belong to the Mastodon angustidens. In this collection there
are also some species of vertebrata not hitherto known to occur in
that place, and the first specimen which I saw in the rich collection
of Professor van Breda was a new rodent from Oningen, to which I
have given the name of Sciurus Bredai. In Tayler’s museum I saw
also the Anguisaurus from the lithographic slates of Solenhofen,
assuredly a most remarkable creature and well deserving a thorough
description, which however would require more time than I can com-
mand. It seems related to the Pleurosaurus, of which I have the
middle portion of the skeleton before me, and perhaps the two genera
may come to be united.

Whilst residing on the coast of the North Sea in Holland and
Belgium, I thought myself transported to the very workshop where
the marine molasse and the shell-sandstone of the molasse were form-
ing before my eyes. The dunes are an analogous formation; the
sand of the dunes is the molasse sand of historical times ; the simi-’
larity is so remarkable that it only requires consolidation, in order to
represent the molasse sandstone with its contents, which would con-
sist of living instead of extinct species. The sand of the dunes rarely
envelopes mollusks in a living state; it is chiefly the shells of dead
animals, and these for the most part fractured, broken mto frag-
ments or rubbed by the incessant beating of the waves. ‘The beach,
seen during the ebb, may be compared to a great extent of exposed
strata, on which remains of organisms appear in various places.
Even the flame-like distribution of colours and other markings on
the divisional surfaces of rocks may be partly explained by the de-
posit of foam from the waves. The manner in which the waves
during the ebb of the retiring sea sport with the fine sand on the
beach is very interesting. They give it a wave-like, variously fur-
rowed arrangement, resembling the sculptured markings on the skull
of the crocodile. Similar appearances, and no less regular, occur on
the surfaces of many rocks containing petrifactions. The sea-shore
may also convince us that many phenomena in the fossiliferous
rocks have their cause in the alternation of the seasons,—a pheenome-
non which must be carried further back in the history of the earth
than our theorists imagine. When it is considered for example that
the immense profusion of fish on the shores of the Netherlands, in
summer declines to absolute poverty, many of the fish then seeking
other littoral regions, we may conceive that the variation in the
numbers of petrifactions which the strata of one and the same for-
mation present, the alternation of highly fossiliferous beds with others
in which fossils are rare or entirely wanting, that the imterruptions
in the occurrence of species by beds in which they do net appear, as
well as the diversity in fossils which is observed when in wide-spread
formations the same stratum is followed to distant points, may in part
be explained by the alternation of seasons. On the strand, newly ex-
posed by the retiring sea, at the season of my visiting it, I rarely found
a fish ; it was chiefly mollusks, sea-stars, among them often those with
four rays, prawns, and among plants fucoids, that were left behind.
In a sand-hill I found the shell of a crab full of the fine sand, and in

GOPPERT ON THE COAL BEDS ON THE RHINE. 17

the best way to become a petrifaction. Even the more frequent oc-
currence of cetacea in certain parts of the molasse formation is ex-
plained by the fact that at present there are particular parts of the
sea-shore where cetacea are very frequently stranded; Ostend is
such a locality. There whale-like animals are often thrown on shore ;
among others the monster which after going the tour of Europe as a
curiosity, is now found at St. Petersburg.
[J. N.]

Results of an Examination of the Coal Beds on the Rhine.
By Professor G6prERT.

[From Uebersicht der Arbeiten und Veriinderungen der Schlesischen Gesellschaft
fiir vaterlandische Kultur im Jahre 1847, p. 68.]

Ir might well be supposed that the peculiar structure of the stone-
coal observed in the Silesian mines would also appear in other ancient
coal deposits. This view was fully confirmed when in the autumn
of 1846 I had an opportunity of examining the coal strata in the
district of Saarbriick, near Aix la Chapelle, some of those at Liege,
and m Westphalia. I everywhere found, exactly as in Silesia, though
not in such perfection as in the Nikolai mines in Upper Silesia, that
the coal contained plants visible with the naked eye, Stigmarie,
Lepidodendra (especially Lepidofloyos laricinus), and Sigillarie ; and
in the pit at Norheim near Kreuzunach, for the first time even a fern
(Cyatheites arborescens, mihi), together with so many Calamites be-
longing to the Calamites decoratus, that I thought myself almost
entitled to term it a Calamite-coal.

These facts give that completeness to the circle of our observations
which was much to be desired: representatives of all the families of
plants observed in the coal formation have now been found in the
coal itself. From Norheim I proceeded towards St. Wendel, visit-
ing in the vicinity, the so-called Zettow mines at Matzweiler and
Urexweiler, and then the Mareschweiler pits and the carboniferous
sandstone and limestone quarries of the district between St. Wendel
and Ottweiler. The flora of the limestone quarries, together with
the limestone itself, exhibits a remarkable similarity to the Silesian
and Bohemian deposits which appear in the red sandstone between
Wiinschelburg in Silesia and Braunau in Bohemia. The coal of
these various mines was pretty uniform in character. It contamed a
vast quantity of minute fragments of the fibrous coal (draucarites
mihi) running through the seams in every direction, and much pyrites,
so that it usually appears very loose, and after a few months even
crumbles down.

From Ottweiler I went to Neuenkirchen, the vicinity of which oc-
cupied me for a long time ;—the Konigsgrube, the red ironstone
(hematite) beds of the Fuchsgrube, the vast quantities of clay iron-
stone collected at the foundries, in particular the Lebach ore contain-
ing fishes, and also, though the fact was at one time doubted, plants ;—
the exceedingly interesting Wellesweiler mine with its upright stems,

VOL. V.—PART II. c

18 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

in which the distinct character of the coal in each of the twelve
seams appeared in a most convincing manner (the first seam, for in-
stance, was throughout rich in Sigillariee and Lepidodendra, especially
the Lepidofloyos laricinus; the Martin’s bed in Stigmarize) ;—the small
Querscheid mines with the Dechen bed, in the coal from which Sigil-
larize predominate to a degree not seen in any other pit in the whole
Rhenish mining district, and strongly recalling the Leopold mine near
Ornontowitz in Upper Silesia. From this I proceeded to Saarbrick,

where the Director of Mines Sello pomted out to me the general fea-
tures of the coal district, and where in several collections I had an
opportunity of obtaining more precise information regarding the oc-
currence of the fossil plants. I then returned to several of the other
mines, in particular the colossal Gerhard mines, which every year
furnish 800,000 tons of coal, and in which the Beust seam must be
designated a true Stigmaria coal, containing this plant im immense
and almost incredible abundance ;—the Leopold pits, in which in a
distance of 60 fathoms I observed fifteen upright stems, chiefly Sigil-
larize, so that in this place a whole subterranean forest seems to lie
buried. The Lehbach, the Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, and
the Hostenbach mines are remarkable for the great abundance of
fibrous coal, which forms whole stems almost as in some mines in
Upper Silesia near Chelm, and Myslowitz and near Krakau.

After completing the examination of the Saarbriick district, my
attention was directed to the coal-basin round Aix la Chapelle, and
particularly that on the Inde near Eschweiler and Stolberg, where I
spent several days studying the very rich collections of Director Graser.
This collection has a peculiar interest, as proceeding entirely from one
locality, from the very extensive works of the Centrum mine. It con-
tains perhaps fifty new species; amongst them fifteen new ferns of
the genus Sphenopteris alone, several with that kind of fruit, which
ten years ago I foretold would be found, though then scarcely credited ;
and twelve species of Sigillaria.

A very remarkable circumstance in this coal-deposit is the occur-
rence of Mytulites, over an extent of several hundred fathoms. On
Inquiring about the existence of plants in the coal, I was shown a
piece of coal with Sigillaria, as the only mstance known during the
last thirty years. Yet I succeeded here, just as in all other places,
where I was met with doubts of the possibility of finding such re-
mains. After I had shown the way in which the planes of stratifica-
tion, especially those that are dull, must be brought under the eye and
examined by light falling on them in various directions, it turned out
here as in other places: Stigmaria ficoides was frequently observed
as the prevailing plant, and Lepidodendra and Sigillarize also ap-
peared in sufficient abundance.

The coal in all the pits on the Worm appeared to me very peculiar.
The structure of the coal, visible with the naked eye, tends to disap-
pear in a very uniform manner in all directions. Thus, just in pro-
portion as the Sigillarize, Stigmarize and Lepidodendra appear more
rarely on the shining, often anthracitic-looking coal, so also the re-
mains of Coniferee decrease ; whilst the so- called fibrous coal, or the

KARSTEN ON THE GYPSUM AT LUNEBURG, ETC. 19

Araucarites carbonarius, is im a remarkable degree more rarely met
with here than in any other coal with which I am acquainted. The
short time left me was occupied with an excursion to Belgium, where
at Liege I examined the coal-mines situated in the town itself (houil-
léres de Bellevue 4 St. Laurent), where I found exactly similar con-
ditions, beautiful Lepidodendra, as in the Wellesweiler mine.

On my journey home I visited some mines in Westphalia, near
Essen, under the friendly guidance of Herr Heintzmann, Councillor
of Mines ; all of which showed in the coal, along with multitudes of
Stigmarie, also Sigillariz and Lepidodendra in more or less abun-
dance.

When we now reflect, that in every carboniferous deposit which
I have had an opportunity of examining, I have found the coal, not
as has hitherto been universally assumed, and as Elie de Beaumont
has recently maintained in his Lectures on Geology, a more or less
uniform mass, showing no trace of vegetation, but that I have dis-
tinctly recognized, even with the unaided eye, the plants that have
contributed to its formation ;—it becomes more than probable that
the same thing would be found everywhere, if these conditions and
the way and manner in which I make my observations were only at-
tended to. Differences will no doubt always appear, since the more
or less perfect preservation of the structure depends, among other con-
ditions, very much on the degree of decomposition to which the vege-
tables had already attained, before they were protected from any
further waste or decay, by being buried between layers of earth and
stone, which cut off all access of the air. The vegetables, for ex-
ample, which are found buried in the coal-basin on the Worm, had
made further progress towards decay than usual, and hence the rarity
of specimens in which the structure is well-preserved.

[J. NJ

On the Relations of the Gypsum at LUNEBURG, SEGEBERG, and
LisrHeren. By C. J. B. Karsten.

[From Monatsbericht der Akademie der Wissensch. zu Berlin, 1848, p. 130.]

THE masses of gypsum at the localities just mentioned are anhydrite,
which has been partially converted into gypsum in its original situa-
tion. The plutonic formation of the anhydrite is proved by its rela-
tion to the stratified rocks, which, in consequence of the elevation 6f
the anhydrite, have also been brought nearer to the surface of the
earth. It is also confirmed by the character of the matter with which
the fissures in the gypsum are filled. This matter shows in all the
three localities the same relations and the same chemical composition.
It consists of a crystalline, sometimes compact, sometimes gra ivlar,
sometimes slaty, bitumimous mixture of finely pulverized silicate of
alumina, of carbonate of lime and carbonate of magnesia, invery different
proportions. These combinations of the carbonates are very distinct
from the composition of the dolomite from which they may have origi-
nally been produced. The muschelkalk, which at Liineburg is raised

20 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

to the surface in highly inclined strata, contains the carbonate of mag-
nesia, not mixed with the carbonate of lime, but in the condition of a
true dolomite. The change of the muschelkalk into dolomite is
always the more complete the nearer the limestone approaches to the
fissure through which the anhydrite has been elevated. The higher
strata contain only a small proportion of dolomite, which has not
essentially altered their character, which in the vicinity of the fissure
was entirely destroyed.

The peculiar nature of the matter filling the fissures in the masses
of gypsum at Segeberg and Liibtheen leads to the conclusion that
the anhydrite on its elevation must also have broken through beds
of limestone, and partially changed them into dolomite, although
these strata have not been forced up to the surface, as has actually
occurred at Limeburg. From the disposition of the beds, and from
the nature of the matter in these fissures, it further appears that the
mass of gypsum now exposed must have reached the surface after
the tertiary formations were deposited. On the other hand, the me-
chanical disturbances which the beds of the inferior rocks have under-
gone, and the chemical alterations of the limestone strata which come
more immediately into contact with the fissure of elevation, probably
belong to a very much earlier period than that of the elevation of
the anhydrite, which, as the nature of the matter filling the fissures
shows, has taken place slowly and probably with interruptions.

(J. N.]

Mud of the Nile.

Tue followmg analysis of the mud of the Nile, by M. Lassaigne
(Journ. de Pharm. t. v. p. 468), is more recent and complete than
that given by Lieut. Newbold from Regnault, in the last number of
the Quarterly Journal of the Society *.

Sea oie ct, See coe AD
Alama. Tee ees 24°25
Magnesia: 502)... ree eee ae 1°05
Peroxidesof mon. ieee. 3465
Carbonate of lime .......... 3°85
Carbonate of magnesia ...... 1°20
ACI CIES. aon ac remcke 2°80
WN APOR CORRS acy bot. pe ee 10°70

100-00

[J. N.]
* Vol. iy. p. 341.

TRANSLATIONS AND NOTICES
OF

GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

Description of the ORTHACANTHUS DecueEnNt. By Dr. Goupruss.
[From Beitrage zur vorweltlichen Fauna des Steinkohlengebirges. Bonn, 1847. ]

Tue skeleton figured* was found in a slab of reddish-coloured, slaty
limestone, from a bed in the carboniferous sandstone of Ruppersdorf
in Bohemia, and presented by its discoverer, Herr v. Dechen, Di-
rector of Mines, to the museum of our university. It les on the belly
with the left side a little turned up, so that the right side appears
shortened. The tail is broken off behind the ventral fin, and the
length thus far is fifteen inches Rhenish. The slab over the whole
outline of the animal and for an inch beyond has a red colour, so that
the form of the body is shown, as it were, by a shaded outline.
The head, the vertebral column, the pectoral and pelvic arches are
covered with vitreous, rounded quadrangular, granular scales (Kér-
nerschuppen), pushed over each other. The head has a semi-
circular outline, which seems also to correspond to the large opening
of the mouth, since on the right side numerous remains of broken
teeth are seen all round. Behind the probable termination of the
lower jaw the head suddenly contracts about a fourth. On the ante-
rior portion behind the obtuse snout, two conical cavities are visible,
which appear to open out forwards, and hence may be considered to
be nostrils. On the other hand, no trace remains of the cavities for
the eyes. A straight spine is rooted in the neck, and is 4 inches
7 lines long, and 3 lines broad at the root. It has no articulation at
the base, is smooth on the anterior surface, though slightly cracked,
and on the posterior side is enclosed in the stone. The vertebral column
shows indistinct spinous processes, whence it may be deduced that it
‘was imperfectly ossified. From it, as far down as the pelvis, nu-
merous, short, straight ribs proceed, which are inclined backwards,
and at the thin end are often bent in various directions, and seem to
consist of a single series of granules. The scapular arch on each
side is formed by a bone 5 lines broad, which is curved inwards, di-
rected backwards, and has a knee-shaped angle on the posterior third
of its outer margin. This margin is covered thus far with fin-rays
which are formed of two alternating series of osseous granules (Knock-

* In tab. 5. fig. 9-11 of the above work.
VOL. V.—PART II. D

ag GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

enkernen). The anterior rays are very short and thin, the succeeding
ones increase in length and thickness. Immediately before the knee-
shaped angle there arises a carpal ray, distinctly articulated, turned
backwards, and 3 inches 8 lines long. On its outer side it has seven-
teen thick, strong rays, much divided externally, and, as a remarkable
peculiarity, also on the inner side a smaller number of weaker rays
divided in a similar manner towards their point.

The pectoral fins had consequently a great extent and an anomalous
(abweichende) structure.

The pelvic arch is less distinctly preserved. A broad, short bone
proceeds obliquely forwards from the spinal column, and attached to
it is the knee-shaped tarsal ray turned backwards, which with its
numerous fin-rays, attached on the exterior side, and likewise much
divided towards the point, forms a large fin. Whether the bundle
of fibres (seen in the figure) extending from the vertebral column to
the knee-shaped angle indicates a bone, and whether this belongs to
the right or left ventral fin, cannot be ascertamed. Remains of the
former, however, are apparently indicated between the vertebral
column and the carpal ray.

Close behind the pelvis, opposite the ventral fin, are situated the
remains of a dorsal fin composed of numerous rays. The body being
broken off at this point, it is uncertam whether there was also a
second dorsal fin.

It is thus evident that this skeleton belongs to a cartilaginous fish,
with a semi-ossified vertebral column, of the order of Selachii,—a fish
which from the breadth of its head and pectoral fins, and the small
thickness of its body, resembled the living genus Squatina. But as
it is probable that the opening of the mouth corresponded to the
circumference of the head, and as the carpal ray of the pectoral fin
is furnished with fin-rays on its inner side also; its alliances can
only be sought for among extinct genera, of which, so far from any
completely preserved skeleton having as yet been found, in general
the teeth and the cervical spine form the only basis of comparison.
The numerous fragments of small teeth, lying along the right-hand
margin of the head, render it probable that there were several
rows of them. The anterior teeth are larger than those placed
farther back, so that the form of some of them can still be recog-
nized*. When magnified, it is seen that from each root three conical
points arise, a large one in the middle, with a smaller one on each
side. They are slightly compressed from within outwards, so that
the interior side appears flatly convex, the outer side almost flat.
Both sides are longitudinally furrowed and covered with a shining
enamel. In fig. 10 a+, several broken teeth lie above each other, of
which the one in front seems to have four points ; in fig. 6 the inner
convexity is shown ; in fig. ec the more flat external side. Similar
teeth characterise the genus Hybodus (Agass. /.c. p. 178. tab. 22.
a. 24), but its cervical spme is very different from that of the present

* See fig. 10 of original.
+ Tab. 5 of the original Memoir.

GOLDFUSS ON ORTHACANTHUS. 23

genus. This is situated at the extremity of the head, and no trace
appears behind it of the rays of a dorsal fin, of which it might have
formed the commencement. The root which was buried in the flesh
is not renewed (verjiingt sich nicht), but the whole spine gradually
increases in thickness from the point to the basis, is quite straight,
cylindrical and smooth on the anterior surface, whereas the spines of —
the Hybodus are compressed, curved backwards, striated on the root
and furrowed on the lateral faces. In order to observe the characters
of the posterior surface of the spine which was hid in the stone, a
portion of it was dug out and an impression taken of the uninjured
furrow in which it lay. This showed an elevated central line, with
minute points at alternate intervals on each side of it, indicating small
spines. These are not placed close to the central line, but at some
distance from it on the margins*, whereas in all the known Hybodus’
spines, they approximate so closely towards the upper extremity as
to form only a single row. There is also no indication of a second
spine at the commencement of a posterior dorsal fin, as seems to have
been the case in the Hybodus. On the other hand, the spine of this
fish has the most perfect similarity to a large spine from the coal
formation of Manchester, which Agassiz (ii. tab. 45. fig. 7-9) has
distinguished generically under the name of Orthacanthus eylindricus.
It must therefore be conjomed with the genus Orthacanthus, but
forms a distinct species of scarcely half the size, characterized by a
spine of one-third the thickness and by the distance of the smaller
teeth from the middle line.

The discovery of this fish not only enriches the fauna of the coal
formation with a new species, but completes our knowledge of the
genus ORTHACANTHUS, of which the following are the characters :—

Mouth large, corresponding to the circumference of the head, with
several rows of small, numerous, three-pointed, slightly compressed,
longitudinally furrowed teeth.

Instead of the first dorsal fin, a single, straight, flattened, cylin-
drical, subulate (platter, drehrunder pfriemenformiger) spine, which
has on the posterior side, at a little distance to the right and left of
a raised middle line, a row of fine spines.

The second dorsal fin, opposite the ventral fin, without a spine.

Pectoral fins lateral, large, with a long, articulated carpal ray di-
rected backwards, and furnished with fin-rays on its inner and outer
sides.

Ventral fins moderately large, with a similar tarsal ray, which,
however, has fin-rays only on the outer side.—[J.N. |

2. Memoir on the Test of Trilobites and on some accidental Distor-
tions of its Form ; with Notes on some Species from BRitTTANy.
By M. Marie Rovavttr.

[ Bull. Soc. Géol. France, 2nd series, vol. vi. p. 67.]

Tue information in this paper may be considered supplementary to

the author’s former communication on the ‘Silurian Fossils of Brit-

* See fig. 11. pl. 5. of the original.
D 2

24 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

tany,”’ an abstract of which appeared in vol. iv. part 2, p. 35 of the
Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society.

The comparative amount of calcareous matter in the test of Trilo-
bites, and the shells of Mollusks, may certainly be determined, where
the sulphuret of iron has been abundant, as at Angers and Poligné,
by the amount of this mmeral replacing it, since at certain spots, such
as Couyére, where there has been a paucity of the sulphuret, the lime
is found in corresponding quantity, or if the test or shell was corneous,
it has been replaced by sulphate of barytes.

Among the very few genera which appear to have had a consider-
able quantity of calcareous matter in their test :—

Calymene and Phacops offer either the original calcareous test, in
which case these fossils are very difficult to disengage from the matrix ;
or the sulphuret of iron.

Ogygia and Illenus break out with ease from a block of stone, and
show a varnished or lustrous surface: these do not present any sul-
phuret of iron (except when the mineral has been overabundant), but
Ogygia and Nileus* often have sulphate of barytes replacing them.

A new Orthis, of the ‘ arcuato-striate’ group, figured under the
name O. Berthoisii, Rouault, appears to have had shelly matter only
at the beaks, since these have not undergone distortion, are difficult
to disengage from the stone, and show either carbonate of lime or
iron pyrites; the rest of the shell has been pressed into every pos-
sible form, is easily disengaged from the rock, and presents no py-
rites. The surface of the slate immediately round the shell is gene-
rally smooth and lustrous for some little distance, which the author
thinks may be due to the animal matter pressed out of the shell:
this surface is generally covered by sulphate of barytes.

Some of the Trilobites of the clay-slate, preserved in the museum
of the “‘ Jardin des Plantes,”’ are next examined critically.

The fine species of which Brongniart figured a portion as Ogygia
Desmaresti is here reproduced under the name of O. Brongniarti,
Rouault, and figured of full size. It is distinguished from all described
species by marked characters of breadth and proportions of the parts ;
and from O. Hdwardsi, a new species also figured here, by some dif-
ferences of proportion more minute, and less easily recognisable. The
following four species are characterised by the relative proportions of
length and breadth in the head :—

Length. Bread
Oe Brongniarls ooo sccs: vee pieces Stee
OPTED METES 6c 0n 0 00s sins one 1 iota ae ee
OR IEE DE ne ae ere L rwistteceese eee 2
(TACO U ROO os ewn's sn csdo.ctgl Seer teat shee 11

The author finds that in this genus—in proportion as the form of
the species is rounder and less elliptical—the length of the three por-
tions, head, thorax and abdomen, become more nearly equal ; and by
pursuing this clue, he is enabled to restore with great probability of
correctness the entire animal, and has done so in his figure. The
proportions borne by the head and abdomen to the length of the

* Of the author; it is more probably /denus.—[J.W.S.]

ROUAULT ON TRILOBITES. 25

thorax being nearly uniform throughout a genus, assist him very
much in the restoration from fragments. He finds that Ogygia has
the body nearly equally divided into three—the middle of the length
being between the 4th and 5th segment; while im Calymene, Homa-
lonotus and Paradoxides, the thorax occupies more than half the
entire length, the centre being at the 6th segment; in J//enus it is
between the 5th and 6th. In Asaphus and Ni/leus it is between the
4th and 5th; in Trinucleus at or above the Ist.

Again, in Ogygia the greatest width of the oval body is in the
centre, or between the 4th and 5th segment.

By all these observations of the species he is guided to the same
result, and_therefore believes that the restoration he has given is not
only correct in the present instance, but may form the basis of future
restorations where fragments only exist ; and even where slaty distor-
tions may have altered the origimal form entirely, the relative pro-
portions will still remain intact.

Abbreviating a little, O. Brongniarti is thus described :-—

** Shghtly oval; the width rather greater. Head crescent-shaped,
35 times as wide as long. Glabella wide, short, only 3ths the
length of the buckler, with two shallow furrows radiating inwards
from the upper angle of the eye, one obliquely upwards, the other
horizontal. Cheeks flat, triangular, not separated from the gla-
bella. Eye large, horny, with 1000 or 1200 very fine lenses at
least. Palpebra* continuous with the glabella. Facial suture pa-
rallel (within) to the front margin for some distance, then sharply
turnmg round backwards to the eye, and thence outwards to the
very end of the cheek before it curves inwards again to cut the
posterior margin.

“« Thorax wide; 8 segments, oblique and curved back at the ends ;
pleurze once and a half the width of the axis, with diagonal fur-
rows.

“Tail (as restored) wider than semicircular, with a broad conical axis,
and a margin only moderately wide.”

The characters of O. Edwardsi, Rouault, are given :—

“« Oval, less elongate than O. Buchii. Head semicircular, 24 times
as wide as long; margin and posterior spines much-dilated, and
covered with fine striz ; glabella longer than broad, without fur-
rows, convex in front, the convexity continued, but narrower, to the
faint neck-furrow ; cheeks small, flat.

“‘ Kyes and facial suture nearly as in O. Brongniarti, the suture less
parallel to the edge in front. Thorax one-third wider than long ;
8 joints, each with a gently curved diagonal furrow, and obliquely
poimted and curved back at their ends. Tail with wide lateral
lobes, the axis of 18 joints (with a backward notch in each), late-
ral lobes 8-ribbed ; border concentrically striate.”

He endeavours to show that Ogygia had the thorax-joints soldered,
and not therefore capable of bending or of slipping under each other,
although they were not so firmly united as to resist the lateral dis-

* A useful term for the upper lunate plate which covers the eye in most Tri-
lobites.

26 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

placement which the movements in the slaty rocks have given rise to,
and which movements he considers to have been sharp and violent
shocks, which have broken the testaceous species ; while such as had
only a corneous covermg (most Trilobites) were bent and distorted,
elongated, shortened, or laterally squeezed, according to the position of
the fossil, and direction of the shock.

He describes and figures these displacements in Illenus giganteus,
Burm., from Angers; which he calls 7. Desmaresti, and enters into
an argument to show, that as Guettard’s figures consist only of this
species and Calymene, and as Brongniart refers them to his genera
Ogygia and Calymene, he must have intended by his O. Desmaresti
some of the specimens of the [//enus. Brongniart’s description, too,
contains references to the entire form; he says, “‘ une fois et demie
plus longue que large ;”’ which he could not have drawn from his
own figured specimen, but which would agree well with Guettard’s
figures of I//enus under his eye. The author would therefore take
away from Brongniart’s species the diagnosis, and the figure by which
it is illustrated (and which he admits to be a good figure of the Ogygia),
and transfer the name, and so much of the description as will agree
with it, to Guettard’s I//enus, under the above name ; giving to the
Ogygia the new name O. Brongniarti.

Some additional notes are given on 7rinucleus, first with reference
to the propriety of Burmeister’s division of Trilobites into those which
have, and those which are deprived of the power of roJling up, as he
believes that in this genus both divisions may be found; 7. granu-
latus having the thorax-joints all soldered, while in T. Pongerardi
the rolling is evident, and even twice upon itself—a condition
more complete than in any other Trilobite. He mentions also that
Green in 1832 showed that 7. tesselatus could bend. He also goes
over the history of the genus, and points out that Wahlenberg, Green
and Corda describe the fringe without understanding its true structure,
the nearest approach to a true description of it being found in the
*« Silurian System,’ where the name “‘ T’retaspis,” or perforated shell,
is spoken of as appropriate for it. Beyrich, in 1846, had called the
points ‘alveoli,’ and Barrande ‘points.’ He then refers to his own
previously published account of its true nature as a hollow double
crust, perforated by cylinders of shell, previously given in the “ Bulle-
tin,” and proposes 7’. Pongerardi as the type of the genus.

A new species of Calymene, C. Arago, allied to C. Blumenbachii, but
the tail with a many-jointed axis and smooth sides, is described and
figured.—[J.W.S. ]

On the Natron Lakes in the Plain of the ARAxEs.
By Prof. H. Asicu.

[From Bull. de l’Acad. de St. Pétersbourg, vol. v. p. 117.]

One of the least important of these lakes occurs about two
wersts from the Armenian village Tasch-burun (Stone-nose) at the
extremity of the extensive lava-mass, which in one of the most recent

ABICH ON THE NATRON LAKES OF THE ARAXES. 27

periods of volcanic activity in this district, has burst forth from a line
of distinctly marked eruption-cones of considerable size at the north-
west foot of the Greater Ararat, which seem as it were to push the
declivities of the mountain forward into the plain. The extent of
the lake is such; that the water-fowl frequenting it are, when in the
middle, beyond ‘eun-shot from any side. It contains a weak solution
of common salt along with that mixture of Glauber-salt and carbonate
of soda, which effloresces from the marly clays, that form the soil of
the plain, wherever artificial irrigation has not been introduced, and
a more or less vigorous vegetation of Graminez, heaths and soda-
plants, been established.

In the warmest season of the year the water of the shallow lake
retires three or four feet from its usual banks; on which a crust of
salt a few feet broad and about half an inch thick is then deposited.
It forms an irregular crystallme mass of porous cubes of common
salt, the lamellee and spaces between which are filled with the saline
mixture just mentioned. It has in general a pale rose-red colour.

The water taken from the lake in the end of October contained in
100 parts 93°34 water and 6°66 solid anhydrous salt. Analysis
showed the latter to consist of—

Sulphate of soda (Na BS)... shines 0) viva 10°36

iemneoapec or padas(NW) ee coe aawsese LAST

Whionde of sodtim’' (NaCl) oe eee F461
Hence 100 parts of the fluid contain only 2°63 per cent. NaS +

10 H and 1-78 per cent. Na C + 10H.

The composition of the salt-crust deposited in the warm season I
found to be—

Carbonate of soda (Na C) .. on be abs atddl deen ae OM
Sulphate of soda (Na 8S)... ME er seh cease temdvey AEROS
Chloride of sodium eat ch) UE cocnobic r+ HOA R ges dace
Wateriro.. ii: Mentdasel Wie teatemaveciatete's etek tom eee
Magnesia ......... kev dieo tees

By dissolving and rbarystblvihe y ‘dbiatitéd edi mixed with
Glauber-salt, which by repeated crystallization formed fine crystals.

Other lakes, very remarkable both for their geological relations and
the salt they contain, lie to the south-east of the Little Ararat. On
this side, and exactly im the direction of the longer axis of the system
of Ararat, the Little Ararat has at one time opened about half-way
up in a fissure and spread out over its gentle declivities towards the
plain of the Araxes, that gigantic flood of dolerite, which pushes far
down into the basin of Nachitschevan. Its principal branch follows
a valley that opens in a south-eastern direction, on the right side of
the Araxes, between a rocky chain of hills named Giisgtindag (i. e.
Hill of the Sun’s eye, because it lies to the south), and a group of
mountains which surround in a large semicircle the Little Ararat on
the south and south-west, until it disappears entirely below the
colossal lava-covering of the Carnijarach, the greatest of all the
secondary eruption-cones of the Ararat system.

28 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

In this rather extensive valley, the bottom of which is only partially
filled with the immense streams of lava, which have issued from the
Little Ararat and the beautiful secondary eruption-cone of the Dujirdag
on its lower declivities, a number of small lakes occur, in a white
clayey formation, which rests immediately on the horizontal surface
of the lava currents, which appear partially depressed in a singular
manner ; whilst the borders of the streams are formed by a continuous
series of wildly torn-up, long-extended swellings, similar in form and
freshness of aspect to those I had seen on the large lava streams at
the foot of Aitna.

One of these lakes, remarkable for the red colour of its waters,
rendered more intense by contrast with the white ground enclosing it,
had attracted my attention in a high degree when on the top of the
Little Ararat. It les on the left side of the valley, which there expands
like an amphitheatre close under the steep, terraced precipices of the
highest point of the Gisgiindagrotte, which consists of various mem-
bers of the old red sandstone, of dolomites and metamorphic slates of
the transition formation, enclosing limestone with spirifer and pro-
ductus—violently dislocated and heaved up by the red quartziferous
porphyry which appears in great extent and m very interesting geo-
logical relations in the interior of the valley. In July 1845, I visited
this lake, which is from one to two wersts in circuit. In crossing the
white clayey soil, covered with a luxuriant vegetation of reeds and
reed-like grasses, a strong alkaline odour, like that felt on entering
a soap-boiler’s workshop, was perceived. A broad zone of this snow-
white soil, so soft that the feet sunk in it, formed the margin of the
lake, and was covered with an accumulation of irregular lump-like
incrustations of a very compact salt, of a white colour inclming to
red, and with a foliated fracture. These saline crusts lay all around
the white shore of the lake, chiefly floating in the water; some frag-
ments broken off floated about like ice-shoals on the deep red surface
of the lake, which had quite the aspect of water almost on the point
of congealing.

On examining the bottom of the flat lake-basin, so far as the
difficult access to the shore would allow us to do with long Cossack
spears tied together, I found it covered with a similar saline crust,
which was quite continuous, and appeared to increase with the di-
stance from the shore in such a manner as left no doubt that a layer
of salt several inches thick extends over the whole bed of the lake.

These crusts have a high specific gravity and a very remarkable
structure. They consist of a very compact, intimately connected
ageregate of diverging (scopiform) bundles of crystals, like some
varieties of radiating zeolite, whose dull, rounded extremities form the
roughly mammillated surface of the crust. On the cross fracture the
thick rind shows distinctly a whole series of such thin crystalline
layers, firmly interwoven with each other. The fractured surfaces of
this interesting salt show a strong pearly lustre, whilst its colour is
exactly that of the carbonate of manganese-protoxide. The curious
colourmg-matter of the saturated solution which fills the lake, has
concentrated itself in a dark-red coating on the horizontal divisions,

ABICH ON THE NATRON LAKES OF THE ARAXES. 29

and also on the under surface of the crust where it adheres to the
clay bottom.

The salt mentioned above as floating on the surface of the water is
only distinguished from that just described by less compactness in the
union of Pe layers which are scarcely a line in thickness, and being
separated from each other by small horizontal spaces, have a more
laminar aspect. It is also nearly pure white, with a pale rose-red
tinge.

The salt from the bottom of the lake had the following composi-
tion :—

Be OSG LING Pies sini 625 clove teh ag tnenseainn Semnes 74°44
mamponate of Sada (Na ©) (00.0. .ises ecceccs steed. ces. 18°42
Chloride of sodium yen one abl cane ase. dati Oe
SS ae Mua ES opmbsia, (Abe
Manganese and 7 PREREILE IEE f ac5 cas anhiaes inn dokii Sea ease) URBCES

98-96

This salt ignited in the platina capsule retained its crystalline cha-
racter and pearly lustre to the point of fusion, but assumed the colour
of chloride of silver. It requires a continuous and strong ignition
over the spirit-lamp to cause it to fuse.

The salt from the surface of the lake had this composition :—

MICAS AVE SOME) 5165.09 5. gold. ans «<n cadvodeics. den «2ceens OU;OO

PMMA AST MAIEA SLES, ccc «ax cov wiseidWiecs ocevinsocece 16°09
Chloride of sodium Perea me, Me Pero Le satire tuk Dee
Water>..... We. EES coheed, claves... cee) Oe
Magnesia lal Manganese. Beitio ides elghs ochanmcar sed? asc) GEES

98°82

The almost entire absence of water of crystallization, as well as the
physical peculiarities of these salts, are remarkable facts, and show
that the sulphate and carbonate of soda in the anhydrous condition
can, in favourable circumstances, combine in a double salt. The
combination is not subject to deliquescence, and it would appear has
no tendency to attract moisture, for masses of it placed for a long
time in damp situations yield no more water than those previously
exposed to a strong heat. The affinity of the two salts, conducing
tothe formation of an anhydrous double-combination, must be stronger
in the given conditions than that of water to either ; for in no place
could any other crystallizations be discovered in the fluid. Hence
this salt forms im reality a new mineral species, most nearly allied to
the Thenardite, and which might not inappropriately be named Ma-
kite, as the lake is situated in the territory of the Chan of Maku.

The water of the lake itself has entirely the colour of a concen-
trated solution of sulphate of manganese-protoxide*. In 100 parts

* The peculiar colouring principle is not known to me at present. I have ex-
amined it for Bromine, but without finding any trace of this substance. I would
conjecture that it is some vegetable matter.

VOL. V.—PART II. | E

30 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

it contains 30°63 of a mixture of salts in the following propor-
tions :—

Sulphate Wi SOda s .<. a. cace anc sas eae eoebdeeee on ctee pee
Carbonapesot seda /'..02f.1.. ai tte tes se 1208
Chloride of sodium .. Me acter Ome

Traces of magnesia and a little manganese.

On my retutn to my quarters between the Great and Little Ararat,
part of a bottle containing the solution became filled with beautiful
crystals of Glauber-salt, which only partially again dissolved in the
higher temperature of the Araxes plain.

In the immediate vicinity of these red lakes a number of small
pools occur on the same level, distinguished by the absence of all
salt-crusts and by the wine-yellow colour of their alkaline waters.
These small lakes are true reservoirs of carbonate of soda, and thus
undoubtedly the most interesting phenomenon of this singular
locality.

This alkaline solution contained in 100 parts 34:70 parts of a salt
with the following composition :—

Carbonate Of SOGA. vs. vccsadeacnddees scecsee doses eee a Oe
Sulphate of soda . aa sais ates ER aah eae GLE ees
Chloride pi aden eden tel, 202. eT, Naa

In the bottle containing a eee of this solution, a tabular
crystalline mass of carbonate of soda, occupying nearly the whole
volume of the fluid, formed in the same circumstances as in the
saturated solution of Glauber-salt mentioned above.

Two or three wersts from these lakes, in the prolongation of the
valley, where it expands into the plain of the Araxes, two other lakes
of considerable size occur. The larger, with an area of five or six
square wersts, extends even beyond the valley, the widest part lying
in the plam. These lakes much resemble that of Tasch-burun, but
in a solution of equal strength the amount of Glauber-salt and car-
bonate of soda is greater than in the latter.

The existence of these lakes as perennial receptacles of water
depends evidently on the Karassu-springs, which issuing from below
the lava, form small reedy marshes, and, uniting their waters in broad,
shallow hollows, expose an extensive surface to rapid evaporation.
The lake of Tasch-burun, which has no outlet, probably originate in
the same cause, acting at the bottom of the basin. There can be no
doubt, that within the district occupied by these lakes, an immense
quantity of Glauber-salt and soda in a solid form as an anhydrous salt,
could be collected in a short time and at a comparatively small
expense.

TRANSLATIONS AND NOTICES
OF

GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

INDEX PALZONTOLOGICUS, or Review of all known Fossil Organisms,
prepared with the Co-operation of Prof. H. R. Gorrerr and
H. v. Meyer, by Dr. H. G. Bronn (oder Uebersicht der bis
geet bekannten fossilen Organismen, unter Mitwirkung der
Herren Prof. H. R. Gorprpert und H. v. MEYER Jearbeitet, von
Dr. H. G. Brown).

- Tus work forms the third volume of ‘The History of Nature’ by
Professor Bronn, the well-known author of the ‘ Lethzea geogno-
stica’” and other works on fossil geology. It is divided mto two
parts, of which one, under the title of ‘‘ Nomenclator paleeonto-
logicus,” gives a list of all known names of fossils in alphabetical
order. The other part, entitled ‘ Enumerator palzeontologicus,”’
contains the species classed in systematic order, with indications of
the formations in which they occur, thus forming a “ history of the
appearance of the individual organic beings on the surface of the
globe.” The preparation of such a work, as the author remarks, is
subject to many difficulties, especially in the determination and com-
parison of the organic remains described by different persons in dif-
ferent places, and in the synchronizing and grouping of the various
geological deposits in which they occur. The very partial and
limited investigation of the different formations of the earth’s crust
compared to their entire extent, is also a great obstacle to rendering
such a work perfect.

The second part of the work, or the systematic arrangement,
occupies a volume of 726 pages. Hach genus is classed in its proper
place under the great natural-historical divisions of the animal and
vegetable kingdoms. The specific names follow, but seldom syste-
matically arranged, being more generally classed according to the
order of the formations in which they occur, beginning with the
more ancient. The following may be considered as the general plan
of the work. Each page is divided into eight columns, of which the
first contains the names of the families, genera and species, distin-
guished by difference of type, the higher divisions being repeated at
the top of each page. The second column marks the region of the
globe in which the species occurs, the five quarters being designated

VOL. V.— PART Il. F

32 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

by letters, and the different zones in them by numbers attached.
The six remaining columns are appropriated to the various forma-
tions, of which he “adopts the following periods and subdivisions :—

( a. Lower Silurian.

. Upper Silurian.

. Devonian.

. Mountain hmestone.

Coal formation.

. Lower New Red Sandstone
(Todtliegende).

. Magnesian limestone (Zech-
stein).

. St. Cassian beds.

. Bunter or Variegated sandstone.
. Muschelkalk.

I. CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD ¢

oe ee SQ 2 ae

IJ. Trias or Sart PERtop.
. Keuper, or Upper New Red

Sandstone.

L
[4%
|
:
|
L
Lias.
III. Ootrric PeRtop sly So rch Jeraanie
‘ ; . Upper Jurassic.
(
|

0
p. Wealden.
g. Neocomian.

IV. Cretaceous Periop . < 7. Greensand.
J. Chalk.

s. Nummulite formation.

t. Lower Tertiary.

u. Middle Tertiary.

v. (Molasse.)

; w. Upper Tertiary.

| w. Diluvial.

VI. Recent PERiop .... 12 wee
z. Living.

Some of these divisions do not represent formations chronologi-
cally distinct, but are introduced only provisionally from uncertainty
as to the true position of the beds included in them. Others again
should probably be further divided, though the want of precision in
the nomenclature and divisions of various authors renders this at
present impossible. Thus the St. Cassian beds, /, are kept separate
until it is determined whether they form a distinct chronological
formation between the Zechstem and Muschelkalk, and hence pro-
bably better following 2, or are merely a peculiar facies of the Mu-
schelkalk. In the oolitic series no further subdivision between the
lias and the Kimmeridge clay could be effected ; and though it was at
first attempted to place a limit between the Oxford clay and the
coral rag, this had subsequently to be given up from the multitude
of common species. The Wealden is kept separate, some geologists
regarding it as only the lacustrine aspect of the Neocomian. In the
latter, g, the lower greensand of Dr. Fitton is included, but his green-
sand from Blackdown is united with the greensand r. This forma-

BRONN’S INDEX PALZONTOLOGICUS. 33

tion, however, presents many difficulties, so that a true and certain
arrangement is scarcely possible. ‘The Nummulite strata are also
kept distinct, though the author has no doubt of their true position
in the eocene tertiaries. The Molasse, v, is placed between the middle
and upper tertiaries, its vertebrata corresponding more to the lower,
its shells to the higher position.

The following table, which we have drawn up from these lists, con-
tains an approximation to the number of known fossil species in each
of the great divisions of the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Many
of these are, however, duplicates, which on a thorough revision of
the different families would require to be suppressed. Prof. Bronn
thinks that in the invertebrate classes the known species are perhaps
a fifth fewer than the names in his list.

VEGETABILIA.
imtives Cellulares fi. OU i. Pon ee pis Ae 773
Plantze vasculares.
BeeDcULylediMles sie ee eee eke. 1138

Breouylchomde. 64.82 b ke ee.
Organa plantarum; § 6.00005. 6006000660005 SA

emer SUMMNE 2 5 /si Fret eee we ate — 2670
ANIMALIA.
Phytozoa.
DOR SP fe Pees Tees aie ore 2
Pemeapninen ee Se Pe es 22 TE 462
Pee ee Se pee 28 a 672
Polypi.
Polbythalamne . 2.3.66 0.30 lees we 893
a Ue ne a PE ae 810
LR ea a 825
—— 2528
PODS Ts cv reed oe Os Poa R a ee 0
PE Sd eC eee Peis ime 2 | 48
Echinodermata...... PRP Ta PLS ord A, 2) 1189
DRC a CMBR PRE EES ECR EOC vk )
— 4901
Malacozoa.
Sry mimaceprmbee ty “UGE Pa ge. oe eS 1
Meishwpodae He Fe. se S| 952
eS ay EU ee ae 194
— 1146
Pelecypoda.
Niaininy aes A PTS eas es 1066
Diy aT PRE PRT IOs BERR BORE ie 3650
—— 4716
PtCrOpOdA PEPPER PUG eee CAI
RIGtenopude mee PO LIP P TR eee ed os 85
PLONE OM ATOR Fe ee hs 120
Gistwtopadammes seta Ue 6110
Cepiniopndam ys Pe. IP. oe 1452

34 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

Kntomozoa.
MermestatyT et. Daaai, 41, our i. 241929288
Orastacean, ALINE WROTUNY Bs, Le A, MY BOA
Miypriapoday rch. 2°, hci oe Oe ee oe 17
Arachnoidea.......... Ele. APA OND, a8 131
Hexapoda) A ghd JAH), TLE TIO a ae 1551
281102888
Spondylozoa.
Piseps i 6 204 ORTEGA, 2 BOO aR 1318
Reptihias 20100 2a 2870 a Dagens 384
Arvest) Julaceib gil cal, BYP LONIGIN TE 9, 148
Manrmalmwi@, 2c aiioge, Ret a 8 Bae. & 705
eet 2s
Animalia sumiima. 20:0 24/2 ok..c-3 ae cee eee «eee 24,008

The total number of fossil species enumerated in this portion of
the treatise therefore amounts to 26,678. In the continuation of the
work, the author intends to present the general geological and zoolo-
gical conclusions derived from this view of the periods at which the
various races of organic beings first appeared on the globe. [J. N.]

Notes on Tritospites. By M. BarRANDE.
[From Haidinger’s Berichte von Freunden der Natur, in Wien, vol. iv. p. 353.]

WuitsrT investigating the Bohemian trilobites, M. Barrande has
come to the conclusion that no good classification of this family has
yet been proposed. The division according to the peculiarities of
the eyes, as wrought out by Goldfuss, Quenstedt and others, though
based on an important character, is yet too artificial, and has too
little regard to the diversity of other organs. Burmeister has selected
the capability of rollimg themselves up, as the basis of his highest
divisions ; but M. Barrande by careful search has succeeded in find-
ing individuals of all species of trilobites, even those said not to
possess this power, rolled up, and consequently this distinction fails.
The classification in Corda’s work on the Bohemian trilobites is
founded on a character of small importance in regard to the entire
organization of the animal, namely on the peculiarity of the caudal
plate (Pygidium) as either entire or divided on the margin. By this
classification, species of one and the same genus are placed in two
distinct sections of the family; as for example, Phacops stellifer is
distinguished by no character, except the divisions of the tail, from
the other species of Phacops in which it is entire on the margin. M.
Barrande thinks that a good classification, on which M. L. von Buch
is said to be at present engaged, will only be possible when a greater
number of species are known ; and recommends special research to
be made for them in localities where they abound.

The largest Bohemian species known to him is the Paradowides
Linnei, which attained a foot in length. One of the largest species
is the Asaphus nobilis, which is also remarkable for the seulpturing of
its shell.

An interesting peculiarity of many species of Odontopleura, par-
ticularly O. Buchit and Keyserlingii, is that some individuals are

DUROCHER ON SOILS AND VEGETATION. 35

distinctly narrower than the others, with which they perfectly agree
in all other respects. M. Barrande is inclined to refer this distine-
tion to difference in sex, the narrower specimens being males, the
broader females.

The same genus, Odontopleura, shows the care necessary in form-
ing new species; almost every individual has a different number of
spmes on the tail, so that this forms no ground for distinguishing
species. Even the nature of the stone in which they are imbedded
produces remarkable differences: thus in the slates all the projecting
ridges, &c. are pressed flat ; im the quartzites, on the contrary, they
preserve the same prominence as during the lifetime of the animal.

The compound eyes are in many specimens singularly well pre-
served. In the eye of a Brontes palifer M. Barrande counted nearly
30,000 lenses. [J. N.]

Observations on the Relation between the Mineral Character of the
different Formations and their Vegetable Productions. By
M. J. DurocHeEr.

[Comptes Rendus, tom, xxvii. p. 506.]

In the course of the many years that I have been engaged in ex-
amining the west of France, I have observed numerous facts regard-
ing the influence of the mimeral nature of the different formations on
the development of plants, of which the following are a few :—

In an agricultural pot of view, the formations composing the
subsoil of Brittany and the neighbouring districts may be divided,
without regarding their geological age, into five classes: 1. granite
and crystalline schists (of granitic elements) ; 2. clayslates and grey-
wackes ; 3. quartzite or sandstone, and quartzose schists ; 4. tertiary
deposits of an argillaceous-gravelly or pebbly nature; 5. calcareous
formations. In another respect three great agronomique divisions
may be formed: 1. cultivated ground and meadows ; 2. the forests ;
and 3. the landes. During my geological studies I have determined
the manner in which the landes and forests are distributed over the
surface of these various formations. I have remarked that in Brit-
tany and the surrounding countries they are generally confined to two
kinds of formations—to the argillaceous-pebbly tertiary deposits, and
more especially to the quartzite and quartzose schists. The latter
variety of soil, though comparatively it does not occupy a very large
extent of surface, still in many departments presents a greater extent
of landes and forests than all the other formations conjoined. Landes
and forests are also occasionally observed on granite, principally in
Morbihan ; but they are less frequently seen on the clayslate and
greywacke, and very rarely on the calcareous formations.

The peninsula of Brittany presents four zones well-characterized by
their geognostic and agricultural characters: a littoral zone, com-
prising the two coasts north and south, formed chiefly of granite and
crystalline schists; secondly, a central zone composed of clayslates and
greywackes, sprinkled with a few tertiary deposits; and lastly, the
two zones that separate this central band from the coasts, consisting
of quartzose rocks, intermixed with schists and some granite masses.

36 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

The littoral region is the most fruitful in grain and the most densely
peopled, both from its fertility and on account of its maritime com-
merce and fisheries; then follows the central zone, possessing the
largest extent of meadows, and yielding the greatest amount of dairy
produce ; the two intermediate zones, formed chiefly of quartzose
rocks, are inferior in population and in fertility ; they are the region
of landes and forests, im which all the iron furnaces are grouped
together.

It is principally in the eastern part of Brittany that a large extent
of landes is found on the argillaceous-gravelly and pebbly tertiary
deposits. South of the Loire they all occur on these deposits, that
country containing no quartzose rocks ; and, I may add, most of the
forests of Normandy and Maine cover either the tertiary or quartzite
formations. That much wood and landes occur on the tertiary de-
posits arises in general from the very argillaceous nature of these for-
mations, which are too compact, and difficultly traversed by water,
or even wholly impermeable. Many of the soils that cover the
quartzites show the same influence, being also very argillaceous ;
though there are some with no argillaceous beds, when frequently
the soil, composed almost entirely of siliceous detritus, is too poor,
too dry, and thus with the contrary defect to that just now men-
tioned. This occasionally occurs on the top of hills formed of granite.
The landes observed on the quartzose or granitic formations are con-
stantly on high ground ; whilst those covering the tertiary deposits
are frequently in low situations.

In the west of France the kind of cultivation and the species of
plants growing naturally vary from one formation to another. The
most striking differences are caused by the sandy or clayey nature of
the soil, by the presence of calcareous matter either existmg naturally
or introduced artificially, and finally by the complex influence of the
vicinity of the sea. The schistose formations and the argillaceous
tertiary deposits show the greatest extent of pasture-land and those
beautiful meadows which charm the eye by their perpetual verdure,
thanks to the humidity of the soil ; but they are less adapted for fat-
tening horned cattle than the argillo-calcareous soils, where the pas-
ture is more rapidly restored, and which produce a greater variety of
plants, especially dicotyledons.

The culture of buckwheat extends universally over every part of
western France that is composed of ancient rocks, and consequently
presents granitic, argillaceous or siliceous soils. Much less buck-
wheat is produced, and the cultivation of wheat and other plants, re-
garded as exhausting to the soil, is extended in the regions where the
activity of vegetation can be promoted by the use of lime, as chalk,
marl, shell or other calcareous sands, and thus in the maritime zone
or near the limestone formations. When quitting Brittany, we enter
the plains or plateaux of Normandy, in which the secondary lime-
stones crop out, the cultivation of the buckwheat is seen at once to
cease, and the aspect of the country undergoes a complete change.
The undulating surface of Brittany is divided into an infinite number
of minute fields, separated by ditches and hedges so covered with
trees that the country seems to the eye like an immense forest. On

DUROCHER ON SOILS AND VEGETATION. 37

the other hand, the secondary limestones form very level plateaux,
with extremely little wood ; and the trees too are of a different kind ;
the oak and chestnut, which abound in the fields in the ancient for-
mations, being replaced by the elm. A similar change may be ob-
served in the small limestone basins which occur in Brittany and on
parts of the coast. In the same manner as the elm, the maple (Acer
campestre) and the walnut are more developed on the calcareous soil ;
the birch, the willow, the oak, and the chestnut thrive better on the
argillaceous and siliceous formations. The maritime pine is cultivated
with success on the same soils, even in the most interior localities ;
the beech appears to prefer the granitic soils. The furze (Ulex euro-
peus) and broom (Sarothamnus scoparius) grow spontaneously, or
are cultivated on the older formations, but not on the limestone soils.
The colza (colewort) and tobacco flourish in some parts of the littoral
region, and the lucerne also succeeds there. In like manner, as on
the calcareous soils in the interior, the peat-mosses in the west occur
principally in its low lands.

Among the plants growing spontaneously, few can be cited as ex-
clusively characteristic of the schists, the sandstones, or the granites,
though many are found on one soil rather than on another. The vege-
tation of the argillaceous or siliceous tertiary deposits also offers few
peculiarities when compared with that of the primary or transition
formations. The most striking contrast is between the flora of the
calcareous soils and those soils which do not contain lime in notable
quantity ; but these differences are becoming less sensible, as calca-
reous substances are more generally applied to improve the soil. A
certain number of plants are found both in the maritime region and on
the few, small, calcareous deposits occurring in Brittany, but rarely
or almost never on other formations: among these are Linum angusti-
folium, Silene inflata, S. gallica, S. otites, S. conica, Reseda lutea,
Asperula cynanchia, Ononis repens, Anthyllis vulneraria, Poterium
sanguisorba, Eryngium campestre, Scabiosa arvensis, Anchusa italica,
Linaria minor, L. supina, Salvia verbenaca, Erigeron acre, Thesium
humifusum, Chlora perfoliata, Iris feetidissima, &c. Certain plants
which differ from the former in appearing not to suit the maritime
region, grow exclusively on calcareous soils, or are more frequent
there than in other places. Such are the Orchis pyramidalis, O.
hireina, Ophrys apifera, Op. aranifera, Lepidium campestre, Thlaspi
perfoliatum, Diplotaxis muralis, Dianthus carthusianorum, Litho-
spermum officinale, Helianthemum vulgare, Astragalus glycyphyllos,
Medicago marginata, M. Gerardi, Hippocrepis comosa, Scabiosa
columbaria, Stachys germanica, S. annua, Galeopsis ladanum, Cala-
mintha acinos, Melampyrum cristatum, Cichorium inthybus, Cen-
taurea scabiosa, and many other species. In general the soils cover-
ing the tertiary or jurassic limestones appeared to present a greater
number of characteristic plants than the soils lying on the paleeozoic
limestones or on the marbles, undoubtedly because the latter being
less friable have yielded less detritus to the vegetable soil.

The influence of the limestone formations shows itself even on
animal life. It manifests itself in the development of freshwater and
terrestrial shells. So also the crabs abound in many of the rivulets

38 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

n the districts containing limestone rocks, whilst it is rare to find
them in other formations where the running water appears’to be’ in-
capable of furnishing these crustaceans with an amount of calcareous
matter sufficient for the formation of their tegument. Analogous
considerations may perhaps contribute to explain the absence or rarity
of testaceous animals in certain geological formations. [oN

On a new Pyrenean Type parallel to the Chalk. By M. Levmerte.
[Comptes Rendus, tom. xxviii. p. 738-740. ]

Tuts formation has been particularly studied near Monléon and
Gensac, between the Hautes-Pyrénées and Haute-Garonne, where the
fossils are abundant and easily collected, but extends over the whole
breadth of the latter department. In these localities it usually occu-
pies the sides of hills, the summits of which consist of the tertiary
formations. It is composed of yellowish and grey marls and marly
limestones, resting on a white limestone with very few fossils, and is
of moderate thickness. The strata, badly characterized, in general
dip irregularly towards the north. In regard to its geological position,
it is placed between two systems ; the lower composed of limestones -
and black slates, with conical orbitolites and caprotinze (calcaire a
Dicérates, Dufrénoy); the upper the terrain a nummulites or épi-
erétacé.

Its fossils have been carefully studied. In forty-two well-marked
species, twenty-five are new ; the remaining seventeen belong to almost
all the chalk-beds from the crate chloritée to the upper Maéstricht
chalk. The chief species of the lower chalk are, Ostrea lateralis,
Nilsson ; Terebratula alata, Lamk.; Ammonites Lewesiensis, Sow. ;
Baculites anceps, Lamk. Those indicating the common white chalk
are, Ananchytes ovatus (var.), Lamk.; Pecten striatocostatus, Goldf. ;
Spondylus Dutempleanus, @Orb.; Ostreav esicularis, Lamk.; O.
Larva, Lamk.; Terebratula alata, Lamk. Lastly, a very marked
analogy with the chalk of Maéstricht is mdicated by the following
fossils :—Hemipneustes radiatus, Agass.; Thecidea radiata, Def. ;
Natica rugosa, Han. ; Pecten striatocostatus, Ostrea vesicularis and
O. Larva. These fossils are not disposed in groups according to their
supposed antiquity, but occur mixed together at all vertical heights.
The ammonites and baculites, indeed, are found only in the lower
beds, but along with fossils of the white and even of the Maéstricht
chalk.

A remarkable palzeontological paradox is the presence, as common
and characteristic fossils in the lower part of the marly system, of the
Terebratula Venei, Leym. and the Ostrea lateralis, Nils., species
which occupy a no less important place in the department of the
Aude, in the middle of a fauna essentially tertiary.

A prodigious quantity of discoidal orbitolites found in several places,
characterise this formation as a Mediterranean type; but not even a
single nummulite has been as yet discovered in it, that fossil being
confined exclusively to the superior system. [J. N.]

TRANSLATIONS AND NOTICES

GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

Some considerations on PaumonroLoeicaL Statics, drawn up
Srom the ‘ History of Nature’ (Geschichte der Natur), or Indea
Paleontologicus. By Professor H. G. Bronn.

(From Leonhard and Bronn’s ‘ Neues Jahrbuch, Jahrgang 1849,’ p. 123.)

Four years ago Professor Goppert published a report in the ‘ Jahr-
buch’ (1845, pp. 415-418), on the present state of our knowledge
of fossil plants. This was an extract from his contribution to the
Index Paleeontologicus of our ‘ History of Nature,’ in which, how-
ever, some additions have subsequently been embodied, to which we
have regard in what follows. The zoological portion of this treatise
was completed two years ago, and the printing (extending to 130
sheets) is also finished; so that we are now able to give a general
review of the whole, in the four following tables, which, however,
are not so detailed as in the above place, and also require some fur-
ther illustration. We will therefore endeavour to extract a few of
the most essential results from out the sea of figures.

In the Enumerator palzeontologicus, which forms the second part
of the Index, we have enumerated the genera (Sippen) and species
(4rten) of fossil bodies, according tothe geological periods and for-
mations in which they occur, under five larger or more extensive,
and in twenty-four smaller or more limited heads, of which the first
are marked with I—V. and the second with a—wx. These signs are
more fully stated m the table below, and in the following pages will
often be used for the sake of brevity to designate the different for-
mations.

I. Carboniferous
Period.

II. Trias | III. Oolite [IV. Creta- : i
Period. Period. |ceous Per. V. Tertiary Period. |I—V.

3 :

s S

a ; ; 3

ee = 8 Bp

5 “= S Ss )

(2 aoe peas Ey Bet .

eet = SWateg "ee & Poa Bb ope! lee

Soa = Oo eos. Ca s a 3)

OAs e@RA S/R 83 x 5 as arg 5 He a] BZ

peeeaged |S eg 8 F eels $a/e 83 2238) =

omoS § 6 $l 8 So a a 2 Sage Cas] =

APAROAN/|H PSM i Zo 7 OF ew ie

a bie" d ‘ef et hak 1 ) qr sta vw xp, ¥
VOL. V.—PART ITI G

40) GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

There is still some uncertainty about the right arrangement of
several rock formations. A very considerable number of species are
enumerated by Phillips as common both to the Devonian and Car-
boniferous formations, being quoted from the one in his ‘ Geology
of Yorkshire,’ from the other in his ‘ Paleeozoic Fossils.’ The St.
Cassian beds are placed, according to the former state of our know-
ledge, under the head A, and in II. or the Trias period, on the
boundary of I. or the Carboniferous ; whereas according to the most
recent geological investigations they come above the Muschelkalk or
&; and the only undecided question is, whether they should be con-
joined to this as its higher division with a peculiar aspect (Facies)
—as a coral-reef variety—or must be regarded as the oldest mem-
ber of the Lias formation, since they contain two or three lias ammo-
nites, whereas the other petrefactions rather favour the Muschelkalk.
The red ammonite-marbles are Joined to the lias, although now they
appear, at least in part, rather to fall under the oolite series 7;
whilst the ammonite-marbles with Terebratula diphya are included
as Neocomien under q; it being still undecided whether the Tere-
ératula diphya may not be divided into two species of distinct age.
—In regard to the Oolite, in very many cases, it was not possible,
from the existing data, to determine with sufficient certainty the
member of the formation in which this or that organic remain oc-
curred; and hence almost the entire oolite series, from the lias to
the Kimmeridge clay, had to be comprised tmder one head marked
n, although in many cases where it was possible, the subdivisions of
this formation are more particularly distinguished in the Enumerator
(as n', n*, &c.).—Some English fossils, which are included under
the Greensand [Gault] 7, should perhaps be added to the Neocomien,
as in England geologists have only recently begun to distinguish these
two formations. On the other hand, it is probable that some Glau-
conie beds 7’, with their organic remains, especially from Germany,
have been conjoined with the Greensand (Gault), the two formations
having hitherto been often confused; the latter also probably con-
tas a number of species common to it with the Chalk % which in
reality do not occur in both. Some time ago it became customary
to distinguish from the other deposits a peculiar nummulite formation,
which had immediately to be again divided into two or three forma-
tions of distinct ages, of which two are placed between the white
Chalk and the Calcaire grossier (Grobkalk), so that the one shall be-
long to the eretaceous, the other to the tertiary period. Besides,
there is in the Etang de Berre another nummulite formation with
hippurites, which consequently should be classed in the lower part
of the white chalk. Our enumeration was produced whilst these
views were in process of formation, and the result of this has heen,
that whilst the Glarus slates, which are conjoined with one nummu-
lite deposit, are placed under r (probably however too low?), the
tertiary nummulite rocks in the Paris Calcaire grossier, and at Monte
Bolca, as well as in the Val Ronea, remain united with the Calcaire
grossier formation under ¢ (and 7), whilst only a few small nummulite
deposits, whose age was not certainly determined at that time, are

BRONN ON PALZ ONTOLOGICAL STATICS. Al

inserted between fand ¢ in a peculiar column s. The head v is de-
signed for the Molasse, and contains the fossil remains from certain
rocks, of which it is uncertain whether they should be reckoned to
the middle or upper tertiary strata: whenever this question is de-
cided, the contents of this head will fall to be divided between the
two adjoining divisions. In like manner, if only formations of distinct
age were classed under separate heads, the head 2, for freshwater
diluvial formations, should vanish and be conjoimed with w, as in
reality several species of mammalia are common to both. We would
thus, on the whole, obtain only 21 to 22 instead of 24 formations.
But irrespective of these difficulties, the complete enumeration of
fossil bodies has another class of hindrances to contend with. The
stratum in which many species, and hence even genera, occur, is un-
known ; and whether we omit them altogether, or class them in all
possible formations, or mm one period and formation selected arbi-
trarily, still the truth must suffer. A large number of organic re-
mains appear under two or three synonyms, which for want of ac-
curate comparison cannot be conjoimed, and hence must be numbered
two or three times over, although they occur only once. This hap-
pens especially in the polyparia and mollusca, the synonyms of which
have not yet been sifted and arranged in any monographical work ;
whereas the polygastrica and foraminifera by Ehrenberg and D’Or-
bigny, the crustacea by Behrendt, Burmeister, and others, the echi-
noderms and fishes by Agassiz in special monographs, the plants and
the three higher classes of the yertebrata by Géppert and H. v.
Meyer for the ‘ History of Nature’ itself—have all been so carefully
wrought out, that in these parts but few synonyms now appear among
the true species. But among the polyparia and conchyliz the species
depending on mere synonyms may amount to 0°10 to 0°20. We
have also, with few exceptions, made it a rule, where fossils appear
_ under unsuitable specific or generic names, still in this catalogue to
form no new names, but to leave this to future monographs, and
were consequently compelled to quote many species under unappro-
priate genera, as has been occasionally pointed out in the Enumerator
itself ;—there are likewise a number of genera wholly or partly syno-
nymous, which for the same reason we must allow to remain, although
this also, in the majority of cases, is indicated in the Enumerator :
such species consequently could not always be counted in the proper
place and under the right family ; and the number of the genera has
thus also turned out rather too large, although in the summing-up
attention was for the most part paid to these circumstances. If in
this manner a greater number of fossil species and genera appear
than were really before us, yet on the other hand the deduction to be
made on this account is more than compensated by the new disco-
veries made durmg the last two years since the completion of our
work, though these indeed extend over the whole system, and do not
exactly fall in those orders in which they were wanted to supply these
defects. Many insects and species of birds are only noticed under
the proper families and orders, since their genera were not deter-
mined, and consequently they could only be assumed as divided
G2

42 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

among those that were determined ; but a great part of the species
of insects from the amber, noted in this manner by the Breslau en-
tomologists, probably agree with those of which Behrendt has given
a list, and thus the number of amber insects seems larger than it
really is. <A great part of the genera of plants and fish are founded
merely on leaves, stalks, and fruits, or on scales, teeth, and fin-spmes,
so that one species may appear not only in three genera, but also
under three to six specific names. Many plants especially are enu-
merated under peculiar names, although their fossil remains cannot
be distinguished from certain living genera, and hence must be united
with them (Pinites, Pinus—Acerites, Acer, &c.); and the fossil
ferns particularly are divided into genera from the form of their
leaves, which, were the fructification of all of them known, might
perhaps fall under those genera which have been established for the
existing ferns. The views of the different paleontologists who have
been engaged on these remains, and several of whom will not admit
of any species common to the living and extinct creation, or to differ-
ent periods or even formations, have had great influence on the nomen-
clature, which has again affected the following collected results.
Finally, were even the whole of these difficulties attaching to the
preparation of such a work overcome, a third class of them would
still remain, preventing us from instituting a just comparison between
the former organic world and that which now exists. They depend
on this, that we do not know even the actual creation accurately
enough, that we know still less accurately all that portion of former
creations which lies buried in the bosom of the earth, and lastly,
that the part which is here buried represents but very imperfectly
the whole which once existed. Many soft naked animals are al-
together unfit for becoming fossilized, as the greater number of
infusoria (soft polygastrica, as the rotatoria), the entozoa, the aca-
lephe, naked annelids, tunicate, and other molluscs, even some
scaleless, cartilaginous fishes. In other animals a whole series of
favourable conditions must be combined in order to their preserva-
tion in the strata of the earth, so as to be recognizable in after-times.
Remains of land-animals and land-plants can only reach the water
by accident so as to become imbedded in the strata deposited from
it; even when arrived there, except in very rare cases, we could never
expect the soft cellular tissue of plants and animals, but merely, in
favourable circumstances, of the former the woody fibres of the vas-
cular plants, of the latter the horny parts—more readily the earthy
portions of the skeleton, as bones, spines, teeth, scales, shells, poly-
pidom, bucklers,—to be preserved either immediately and continu-
ously,—or at least so long that they should form an enduring im-
pression, whether sufficient or insufficient for identifying them. Cal-
eareous strata are peculiarly favourable for the preservation in a de-
terminable condition of caleareous and siliceous remains; siliceous
strata for that of woody bodies; clays for vegetable substances in
general, and the horny (chitie) portions of the animal kingdom ;
whilst m sand and sandstone strata almost no calcareous, in lime-
stone almost no vegetable remains can be preserved. In order, there-

BRONN ON PALZONTOLOGICAL STATICS. 43

fore, that these remains should come down to us in a recognizable
condition, it is not only necessary that they should reach the water
and sink to the bottom of it whilst it was forming a deposit, but this
deposit must also be of that nature which is adapted for the preserva-
tion of that peculiar kind of organic remain; it must exclude the
action of the air as well as of mechanical forces with sufficient rapi-
dity before these remains are decomposed or destroyed ; it must con-
solidate with sufficient quickness, or increase so slowly in weight as
not to crush them into a wholly undeterminable condition. The in-
habitants of the sea with characteristic, hard, earthy parts are much
more favourably situated. They occur always in the same element
from which the strata are deposited, and consequently are at all times
in a position to be enclosed in them. Let any one consider an ex-
isting continent and ask himself how many of its organic beings could
probably be recognized from their remains which might be preserved
in the recent stratified formations of this continent, as for instance
in lakes, m river deposits, on the sea-coasts, or below mountain slips :
not a thousandth part of the species would be again distinguishable.
Let us imagine this continent sinking one portion after another, step
by step, below the sea, which along one part of the new coast soon
spreads out new strata over it, whilst on the shore all the organisms
sunk along with it lie open and uncovered, exposed to destruction
from the water and the ravages of its inhabitants. How small the
probability after a thousand years, supposing it possible to turn over
all these beds, that the remains found in them would enable us to form
an image of the former fauna and flora of this portion of the globe!
But how little do we really know of the strata of the earth! How large
is that part of the rock-formations of Europe, the interior of which is
unknown, compared with the strata which have been examined at their
outcrop! And how much smaller is the portion of the earth’s surface
examined in a similar manner in other quarters of the globe! Finally,
should we attempt to institute a comparison between the distinguish-
able fossil beings and the present creation, what is the present creation?
Does it consist of 100,000 or 200,000 species of animals, of 70,000
or 150,000 species of plants? and how many genera does it contain ?
What is a species? and what indeed is a genus? Cuvier twenty-
five years ago believed the surface of the earth so well explored, that
there was but little hope of many new species of large animals being
discovered. Now certainly the number of very large species has not
been great; but the highest class of animals, the mammalia, has
since 1829 increased from 800 to 2000 species. The birds have
never been completely described. The work on the species of fish
is also still unfinished. Count Dejean has about 30,000 species of
Coleoptera alone in his collection, ten times as many as are known
in the whole class of the Diptera; and yet Wurtemberg, which has
been carefully explored in regard to both classes by Roser, furnishes
at least full as many Diptera as Coleoptera. We have assumed the
number of genera of living insects quite arbitrarily at 4000; perhaps
we ought to assume 5000, 6000, 7000 or more; the extent of a
genus is almost entirely arbitrary. And how shall we distinguish

44 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

genera of organisms, whose remains, occurring too only as rarities,
are so imperfect, so crushed, so small, so unlike those parts on which
existing genera depend, as is the case m regard to insects? How
shall we distinguish genera from such unimportant external parts as
the shells of the Asiphonobranchize among the molluscs, a group, of
which the soft inhabitants even in the existing world are for the most
part not examined, but only distributed by chance among the esta-
blished genera of shells? How shall we recognise fossil genera from
the leaves and wood of plants, when we are not able to determine even
existing genera from their leaves and wood ?

It thus indeed seems too early to institute a comparison between the
present and former creations ; these difficulties must first be set aside,
these doubts solved, these deficiencies filled up! But will they ever all
be so? Will even a considerable portion of them soon be so? We are
not bound to wait for this, but only, when institutmg this compari-
son, to keep in remembrance, that all the imperfections just mentioned
attach to this comparison. It is necessary for us to remember that
when we express the results of this comparison in mathematically
precise terms, these yet are only inexact, approximate values, accord-
ing to the present momentary condition of our knowledge,—that those
results which are deduced only from single small numbers, are of
much inferior value to those which depend on the combination of
higher numbers,—that the image (Bld). here given depends on the
sum of the previous considerations, and that new observations may in
the course of years very considerably modify it, even although many
of the results it contains must already be regarded as firmly esta-
blished for ever.

[In explanation of the following tables we must premise that the columns with
the headings ag, m p, gf and sx, contain those sums arising from the addition of
the columns between these two letters (a g=abcdef g), which sums naturally are
too large, since many species, genera, &c. occur more than once in them, and on
this account immediately after, under I, IJ, III, 1V, V, the true sum of the genera
and species is given. This also happens in the last column but one of Table II.
with the lines a—x and I—V, of which the latter is again too large, and the true
sum is therefore given in the last column%. |

* As stated above, Professor Bronn, in preparing his summary, has occasionally
made allowance for errors in the lists, and the number of species in these Tables
consequently varies slightly from that given in the Journal, p. 33, above, which
was drawn up from the work itself. The Plante cellulares are there also erro-
neously stated at 773 instead of 193, the number of names in the list.—J. N.

[To face p. 44.

V. Tertiary Period.

t u Vv W x

I. |136; 319] 110} 48 4
Cellulan 4] 34! 19 &
Vasculal32} 285! 91] 44 4
Mondl32} 31} 12 Be
Dicotl08) 254} 79) 4] 4
Moa 28) 122} 38] 23 4

Co}.. a} “T4
Chi 74; 68) 27

Polygas 1! ... | 369} 29) 223

Polypi 269} 390} 77] 365) 21
Foray97} 184) 65} 220} 10
Bryo} 79} 129 AN 51 3
Anth93|} 77 8} 94 8

Entozoj.. oA

Acalepl 9} 7 7 AE

Echinoi9]) 73 9} 61 4
Stelli 6 3 2 Cae
Echii84| 70 “a 56 4
Fistu 1} ... -

11/25/2725] 783/1609| 642

Tunicai 1

Brachi(13 G) as 23 4
Pelecyj}05) 783) 164] 556} 189
Pterop( 2} 8] ... 2 8

Protop82 “24 a “34

TW5} 25111381} 91
Verme#9| 27 i 322
CrustaB6} 46} 14] 67
Cirrj 6} 23 1} 39
Entd4! 13 Dimes
Mald6} 10} 1) 5

Aracht. Al DSP sss

Vb7| 279] 311] 110| 488}

Pisces}6} 90) 54] 54 5
Lepp | os.
Ela¥6| 56) 24) 34
Ganl9! ... 5 Ae t
Teld1} 34) 25) 16 5
Reptilb3} 59) 74 8} 24
Bat ata) ta Ls 4 12
Opli4 3 8 2 2
Sauj8 8} 13 4
Chel} 13) 38 2 6
Aves.{1| 25 5) Masae 101
Mamm7| 105} 178} 52; 358}
AN}50/3721/297 7/2222) 1417 t24,3661101,745
AN)6/4040|3087|2270| 1421 126,421 § 171,148

I. Review of the Fossil Species. [To face p. 44.

I. Carboniferous Period. II. Trias Period, IM, Oolite Period. {1V. Cretaceous P. V. Tertiary Period. I

|
=

33s Living
aie
alb/ec|]d/e |f/g¢]h ilk MY DEO Pqg | ef Ws bea! ue leven wll peers 7

TEPLANT Ee ccc eee ...| 55) 2! 879/52] 29] ... [31] 5 71| 152} 2] 16 77| ~~ 74-10 | 1136] 319] 110] 48] 4 69,403
Cellulares .......... Seen sped | coo fica i] loco |} HSH ail] al Ih 9] 46] .. 1 272 et fee eee fers ar G | 9100
Wascularest. esctcesccrec ek meer eno eles ...| 49] 2} 866/51] 15]... |31| 4 62] 106} 2) 15 45] 2] 1 | 132] 285; 91) 44] 4] 1867] 60,303

Monocotyledones .............00000..] oe | 49] 2) 772/49] 13]... joa] 1 32] 57 9 14] .. «| 4132] 31) Ig] 3 10,629
Dicotyledones.......... S554 fexo-|[ooa |} cso lol OH GO IGP et 30] 49] 2 31] 27 1 | 108) 254} 79) 41] 4 49,674

Monochlamydez................00004 «+ Soo |pccss |} don PM oH) ee eel a) 30) 42) 2) 6 14) .., . | 28) 122) 38] 23 4 3246

Corolliflore .......... se Sd} cee |igool aca |lcees|! Gace thee ail Ae le a. Ui 13} 14, 1 23,900

Choristopetale -........0... 0 .e..f one doa |W) oabe rose 2 |e er 1}. 3)... J... | 74) 68] 27) 9}. 22,528

IDI ES sonceoncneo codeine rmanconosdzeoc. sce foes | cas |} sao |f Yi) 56 2 6] . 14 1} 1 (yp Gail 8] ...

Il) PHYTOZOA ...........-...... 36 /223) 228) 263) 1)... 171128} 1] 19] 2] 29] 579) 16] 21149] 27011162] 35 | 383] 476 502] 412] 278 4818
PSCUdOZO8) =..cnseceesnnecee. sh BOSH | Goon CO F cooN |] cao Sco leat oa |! con lbodhsan| edo | agai cee fb eoce|! coe [face Hf pe 6]... SU RGvalices on ttrepecd het 50
Amorphozoa ... soc | UY AB a S50 Wool on (PAE a 81 + | 18] 50) 108]... | 12} 6] 47/ 9] 30 250
Polygastrica ...... PRC lice 1 ane Pee (satel Pena OT ee lj ... | 369} 29] 223 500
Polypi ...-.....+ ee wf 291145] 137] 156] . 16] 35 3 3/221) 9] ... | 54] 312] 673] 3 | 269] 390] 77] 365! 21 1810

Horaminiterdiperccctekeneescee eee. PRL AB ean Ral | col) Cem Mel A IT T o 28] . - | 14] 10) 254) 21] 97] 184! 65) 220) 10 1000
Bry ozons nee Neer ken te ke Ad 12| 61) 56] 64]... |...) 131 9}...) 1 26) 1)... } 27) 42) 323]'... | (79/129) 4) 5]| 3 380
PAI tHOZOd sateste seduce tuhee ccs 17) 84) 81) 83)... |...) 3] 26/...1 2! f 3/167] 8]... 1 13] 6o| 96 1) 93] 771 9] o4l 28 430
Entozoa ....... ton seal thaes [i/cwedlt seweidl| accel] (Geel Mee eee Tees SEC Ue RCN (secre eeror| Menta! Messeile. Gactiuces Temas cx hor 1500
Acalephee.......... 5A ce Pane | OEM poco sell noes jase Iyoel evo Bap [cco | iceee | haa5 Wome | noe || 2) Oh tls PA oe 210
Echinodermata ........cs0+..s00+.. ...| 6} 65} 82] 106} 1)..] I} 49/]...| 14 26| 276] 7| (2)} 77] 108} 289113] 91/ 73| 9) 61| 4 498
Stelleride ...... -f 6] 65] 82) 106) 1)... 1} 91...) 13 17) 92) 1] (LY 4] 6] 36)... 6) 73) 2s 286
Mehinidaw tire cw et al San cate eae 40)...| 1 9) 182) 6) (1)}} 73] 102} 253)13] 84} 70] 7] 5el 4 146
Fistulide ......... Rceerit ret Mere else || ace eB ea eee : CHIPS E rere) Uae peal l= et lee ah 66

III. MALACOZOA ............... 260 |416} 979} 809] 143] 7| 94] 603 138/109 1455) 242 | 102] 751| 566) 1500} 39 |2125|2725| 78311609] 642 ae 11,482
Minicatatensessescnen sere ee ee Gn PO0e || S500 || ace aso Hhodl con 1| ano tbr ace ll cas eat l| (es 2B | kisses |Mtrettan | Eronathl| (Baecetan hiatee Dee ese lecesed | eoic
Brachiopoda et Rudista.................. 151/148] 131] 199] 4J...) 357 43] 1] 10 80} 3] 1} 61] 26) 227} 1) 13] 6]... | 23) 4
RelecypOdayiessussasivenccecvesers aovserens 25} 69] 287) 186) 70) 7] 44)129 /30) 71 786|173| 771336) 279} 697} 25 | 705] 783] 164] 556) 189] 4836] 2413
Bberopodar ie ..bscsesteestnceseeee eee ee UP TG SH A Toca ore naeall ee loae Stipe iseac || cee | fees |) cocutt, ose | ee Zl eatS |e 2s
Heteropoda.... MO EN BR le cco |! ee Tdfece |] oo Se] ac m8 MWe Poccaltc lees. |] cee |!) cooelle dec
Brotopodal vesetsss-see: Boel eae Al) 3 |p 2 allies were Alem ae eee || oie ZN G|| sas 8) S|) Wai c.. s2) 24) a Bai 38
Gasteropoda .............. -f 38) 71) 246) 248) 16)...) 141341] 6] 26) 14] 81] 300] 53} 24)135] 125] 415] 12 1135411899] 218] 984] 439 8673

(Ctenobranchia ........ .... 34] 68] 230} 222] 15)...) 131335] 5] 21 79} 275) 52) 23)130| 122} 395} 12 |1170/1540| 152] 853] 300 5520)
Wephalopoda teachin tea eee eran | 35| 94] 270] 137} 44)...| 1] 86] 1] 18 281} 13 211] 127) 146) 1] 18] 12)... Alea 128

IV. ENTOMOZOA ...........06.. 3 50| 256] 7 28] 114] 11 | 85] 251/1381} 91) 9] 2885] 67,360
Vermes a 9] 58] 6 16] 61] 6| 49} 27) 1) 22) 5 770
Crustacea 2 : ee 3, ... | 10] 152] 1 10] 53} 5] 36] 46] 14] 67] 3 791

Cirripedes ............ op Borel eA A854] oes eal Page Sha (2000 Al ea 3) 201 oe 6] 23] 1) 39) 2 10

Entomostraca .... ine i ea een we 207... 14) 13 2| 23 1 143

Malacostraca .... Sel eal lassie lee 9] 132 7} 137 5 | 16] 10] 11] 5 54]
Myriapoda .......... faraball stad | ee tel ame | fereoetad ore ay rane | Near | tc! Sel eeen 14, 1 200
IATAGH NIG a seet eves. eee 5 veo ||| ean fl vee lhiede 4] 132)... | oe ate
Hexapoda AD is \Pooc lf <8 || Ane li 65,0

V. SPONDYLOZOA ............... ee leer 4 70| 161} 2 | 367] 279} 311] 110) 488) 2701 ee
LAISGOS) Sataiccmeeners ee orto ee ere mee ... | 7] 110) 65) 78/11) 42] 4] 5] 37 222] 27 68] 152] 2 | 266] 90} 54) 54) 5] 1461 ut
Leptocardii, Cyclostomi et Dipnoi...J ... |... |... | se. |... feo] oe | cee [eel oe. se | eee sta /ihatatel lites it maton | eeen |) Tees ace | lass ‘Be 221

Blasmobranchi .......0....0..0ese0ese- eee 7| 38) 63) 27]...) 11} 2] 1] 23 49) 12 18] 80}... 76| 56} 24) 34 30
Ganoidei ..... wf... [oon | 72] 2) 5X11) B11 21 4! 14 172) 15 Tie 28 Qh ae Ol eee Blea lines a8
Teleostei ... eel (eepe er lnacee |lenetrnl [eto eel (oes |], aco liael lees a3 Till 43) 44]... | 171} 34] 25] 16 2 1055
Wenfiltay sicecohwecavectosinncessetee ae Serial) Gee lcoe 216 | edi weeaal 78 53] 15 5 SOM) cs, Wi epB] 159) 74) 8a 175
Batrachii... ee ; : Bo ilassh Goe 4 | coe. lbadl bead oe has Pn ere Meee | 35) 15 A “ 300
Ophidii wsta[csed Waresl ase jf>Seszl sue tes laeeeae eee (lela x e roel cece boast et [aes ri 460
NEAUIT Gascon dnancee-pobcusouandebaamarnch os. | ocel|f lect: Ih son 26 ieee | ail 13 48) 10 5 Oe) Gy EI ts) SB og 120
Chelonii ..... Diesel Sail) be co al fea aes voe |e [eee eae ea i Bl Jou! case: Peeen alae -23ie 38 Pe 7000
ANCE Speen eae een id wie | csesdp esd seeders gee eta wiles Plies ceed mt ede tliecali ae 2030
Wammelia eer: oot ot cuer ee tee Hiner tas) cee |eeree Niece sel! css |] von lloathees Tienes |e 57] 105) 178) 92 :
- ——EE EE a setsoeraseae tee : = sl 417 124,366} 101,745
ANITA AG Soe Soe tock ae ee eel 514 |910)1411/1180) 242/24] 164} 741 [54/190] 106 | 784 |2568| 307 | 2331945 | 934] 2937} 87 |2960|3721 Ped aaa ta poset [nas
ANIMALIA et VEGETABILIA ...}514 /910/1466]1182]1121/76] 193} 741 |85/195| 168 | 855 |2720| 309 | 2491 945 |1011| 2944} 97 |3090|4040

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[To face p. 44.

riod. V. Tertiary Period. I—V
a 3 ioe
a bo 5 fa} © | ge
Es ce 53 | 5 | a2
Va S|) & Ul) Vv | wi x }s-x a-x | 1-V
i BLANTA .1) 864 8} 30/115) 53} 31]... | 237 592} 463] 350
BONUIATES wucccccecesd 125 4A St NG) By Alas 32 82 61 38
WRECUIATES ...c00..04 244 4) 28) 99) 47] 27|...| 205 510) 4021-312

Monocotyledones || 9] 3] 9| 16} 6) 2)]...] 36
Dicotyledones ..... 15] 1) 19) 83] 41) 25)... | 169

270| 203} 152
240} 199] 160

Monochlamydea| 9f]...| 7| 36) 17] 16|...| 76 133} 102} 70
Corollifiorz..... be he a | ee eee] gs 16; 14] 14
Choristopetale || 3]...| 11} 31] 14] 6 62 67| 62) 59
Dubice .........04 Us TSS a | | i 24; 21) 17
Il. PHYTOZOA i 13 |115|134]115)117| 53) 547 1283| 811) 524
Pseudozoa ........... BP ae he i 2 2 2
Amorphozoa ........ 26 ae ae ee ae fie 106; 71) 42
Polygastrica........... fee gers |anel, a Oo) L4toa Lt 119} 88) 84
2 ae 1} 105} 3} 79)110) 37) 81) 16] 326 740) 4371 251
Foraminifera ..... (| 38] 2| 24] 45] 29) 43} 8] 151 230} 126; 81
IBEVOZ0A c.s08. 0000 }| 44]}...| 28] 37] 4) 16] 3] 88 293| 165] 97
Anthozoa......:.... by 27k Ui 27| 28} 4) 99] 5) 87 257) 146} 73
PMCOZOR: |.......5.0020s ro! ‘tees Lea) Rey | ated en Wet ee
MS cc ccsseeo ft) =O Bt 1)... | cc |. Thee. 5 6 4 3
Echinodermata ..... face fi Sol E75) 18h A Zs 310} 209] 142
Stelleride ........ fe dee t a) tah Ohl 143) 103} 77
Pehinidss .......... e 4ae 71 21) 1s) 4) 13 7; 66 164} 103 62
Fistulide .........:. es | eh 1a a i en | 3 3 3

—————————__. SS aS ae EE a eS

III. MALACOZ | 181} 25 /199/218) 93/2091146| 890

MPamncata .............. SW eo AS ere eee eee ee 1 1 1 1
Brachiopoda ........ oe ton bt sap. 2b SS Th 36 116 52 29
Pelecypoda ........... {| 83913] 77] 85) 41) 85! 54] 355 905) 362] 174
Pteropoda ...........| oe Py St Giale le HES 21 11 10
Heteropoda...........| i! TI ECS a EE Siete SS oe a 5 4
Protopoda ...........)/ 3)...| 3] 4! 11 3] 3] 14 31 ll 5)
Gasteropoda ........ 1} 621 911111116} 51/111] 88! 486 801} 362] 202
(Ctenobranchia | 54, 9} 88| 89] 35] 84] 62! 367 689} 295] 175)
Cephalopoda ........ W Aow Pool Oc Pde Pe 127| 61] 48
a ENTOMOZ\ 39] 3} 2111341431] 19] 6] 614 981} 783] 686
i Bio) 4) 5) Ti. 5 3h 26 66 38 21
OPUStACEA......00ccces et SAR VN U7) TF) 15) tSl 2 65 269| 184] 165
Cirripedes ........ Oe) ot Rl Pgh Ub Te Zo" T61 ip
Entomostraca ..... Dk She Thay Ut) oy 6 igl Ta 70
Malacostraca ..... (en 4113). Si BSI Gh 4 112 95 82
Riyriapoda ........... es ia | eae 6 8 8 7
APACHE ......0000:4 | Be (aes | \ eee Cea as 57 56 55
Hexapoda! .......0+05. _1108/359| 1 a 469 O81} 497} 438

Se ee

V: SPONDYLO; oo oe 178}117/151|} 29]152| 627

Se ‘| 6914... 1126} 35) 31/ 17| 1) 210 560} 412] 355
Leptocardii, Cyclos}| .. |. |_..|... 24 ee ee ti
Elasmobranchii of} 260...) 201 25| 19] 10)...| 57 216) 342) 110
Ganoidei Rie Rgae athe Bo feopece | POP a eZ) Ly... | 6 167) Liz) © 96
Teleostei ............ b} 354... 1*96. 17] 17] -6| 11 137 177| 153] 149

Reptilia aeeeeeeeeeeees 1} 121...| 12) 20] 22| 4! 101 68 177| 127 986
Batrachii ............ a yy yeh Tt 3) 20 20; 14| 14
Ophidii Te =| | ae 1 9 9 7 8
SAU ..p....0002.0-- {| q] 4 G6) 2) 3t al 17 113} 85] 79
PREIONU t owcccee, 02+ cy nbs) Hg 7 4| 22 35| 21] 16

Aves seesseteeeeeeneceees 2h) lean 4)... | Sal 58 60) 571 736

tt teeeeeeeee 30} 51) 94} 8/108} 291 295] 205] 204

ANIMALIA .......

513
ANIMALIA et VE

043

603
718

3260
3723

790
843

374
405

357
357

2678
2915

2414

531449 1772 | 6007 2764

Enon

Il. Review of the Fossil Genera.

I. Carboniferous Period.

far)
~
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|
5

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d
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RP EUAIN DAE wc acencriiissereatcinene
Cellulares ........- te
Wasculares .....+...+
Monocotyledones
Dicotyledones .........+
Monochlamydee....
Corollifiore....... one
Choristopetalz
Dubie ........-0.5-6. nggeenecoad

TIERPIDY LOZ OAs <ccsesve sess cee a
Pseudozoa .........+00. f
Amorphozoa wed
ROLY AStIICA.2.+.+0se0sveeeevcesrecccesene-s
Polypi ....... Sdpsdnssn Sseectss soot Gesodaee
Foraminifera ..... med
Bryozo0a ....+..
Anthozoa...
Entozoa ......
Acalephee .......+..
Echinodermata ..
Stelleridz Cant
LOGIN GES Soe PR aCanR Ue BAS CC COLRSCCEEE PEE (KaOG SO iseee| PaSoN yecOn| fone) otf seas | (kon fore e Bee
IRGC Perce esas cecetecksaneetasaesoncacs COOL | {aan fce tassd ane: booellkocl daosullecsad face [scllccel eel oma dh aac 11 ong pad Gee Peres aren cael ccc, (llama loos bee ceo aco lheas

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83/184) 310} 199} 13 |115)134/115]117] 53] 547

307}1283| 811
1 2 2

Il], MALACOZOA ...............
MMOMGALASE secsecaceseccnsscncans
Brachiopoda .............
Belecynodainsscecesn.ehoed-
Pteropoda ...
Heteropoda..............+.
BOLOPOGA, ......+s2.0s0-00
Gasteropoda ........:.... Pome

(Ctenobranchia ..............0606...
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IV. ENTOMOZOA ................
Vermes

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WirMped es acceso Pieceades <ece
Entomostraca ........
Malacostraca ..,.....
Myriapoda .............. Aged {ener (oso Leno) seal) cost laralts jell-cseedli-oos | [ioo) bodediesdll cro ||.on0-| liana 2
Arachnidz na ee Abiae well | econ eaten Paton Esta ates neo pea bed ball coo Maton! | dae clh- A Yecd ana
Hexapoda
_ Y. SPONDYLOZOA ....
Pisces ...

Ganoidei
WAS Eee ee em
eptilia ....
Batrachii .

feeeeee

2678
2915

1583 | 5415
1772} 6007

34/80
49)84

513/603
943)718

374)357
405)357

91] 789
103} 886

790
843

37
63

242
287

236
268

425
479

98
99

101 }196
1101 1196

240/191} 83) 9/60) 880

117] 826
261|193|204| 24 |77/1056

422) 863

608 7 91 1969195 6167193 531} 49 3723 | 2764

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Sum of all} Proportion
the living | of fossii
species. to it.

6529 0:009

718 0°005
5811 0°010
1172 0°004
4639 0°001

300 0°057
2280 0003

2059 0°013

652 | 0:37
13 | 0-15

15 | 1:00

168 | 0-41

245 | 0:56

iia as

75 | 0-44

93 | 0:50

60 | 0:00

75 | 0-00

76 | 0:37

36 | 0-22

29 | 0-62

11 | 0-18

64] 515 | 0:59
00 13 | 0:08
07 5 | 1-00
65} 128 | 0:89
00 2 | 1:00
0 9 | 0-00
0:80 5 | 0:80
0:83] 221 | 0-76
0:30} 138 | 0-91)
0:10 21 | 0-24
0:76 | 5036 | 0-09
0-48] 180 | 0-06
0:32] 302 | 0-55
0:92 40 | 0:30
0:09 66 | 0:09
043] 196 | 0-18
1-00 40 | 0-17
O71] 212 | 0-18
0:85 | (4000 | 0:09)
1311 | 0:20

496 | 0-18

6 | 0-00

66 | 0:33

4 | 0°25

420 | 0-15

315 | 0-10

85 | 0:08

105 | 0-06

100 | 0-09

25 | 0-40

350 | 0-14

250 | 0:38

54 11403 | 962] 0-61 [2414 |1291] 0°54} 8232 | 0-157
50 11592 |1022| 0-64 |2764 |1351| 0-49] 14761 | 90-090

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III. Review of the’ Proportion of the Fossil Genera to the Living. [To face p. 44

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_

I. Carboniferous Period. II. Trias Period. IIL. Oolite Period. |1V. Cretaceous Period.| V. Tertiary Period. I—V. Period, VI. Existing Period

Living.

Living. Living.

Sum of all} Proportion
the living | of fossil

tale Quota.

lute. species, to it.

. 017] 6529 0:009

Wulares .....--0-ee0ee cieq

Viveulaves a dR seeatee | : 4] 0-10 718 0°005
Monocotyledonez .... a : “1 uae 5811 0-010
Dicotyledonee ....- Hy ; 511 0-3 1172 | 0:004
Monochlamydez.. a, = 3] 4639 0:001
Corolliflore.......... 80d |i. 50 Poy mae bide ee wee . ' i 0-24 300 0057
Choristopetale .... fed Ae a oe : 0 : See 2280 0-003

as 28] 0-48 | 2059 0:013
Pseudozoa AeOOe 9 wan a
Amorphozoa ... sebnacesd 5) 0:32 1-00
Polygastrica .......cssecescreverenseenestracsncesscecsees 69| 0:82 0-41
Polypi beseeettnreeeeess : 138] 0:55 0:56
Foraminifera ..... 59| 0:73 0°75
Bry0z0a ......-++++ 33) 0:34 0-44
ATIHNOZO as neces ssccwccreccececteseseenesssavene 46) 0:63 0:50
ae ie ee ee cE ECO ela 0:00
Jephe....esceseessersseeeeeceeees o| 0 0:00
Echinodermata acrerdpansecpeqpedse 98) 0:20 0:37
Stelleride | SUP REEDS COOL OOOr oc5e 8| 0:10 0:22
Echinidie (eee Aramco ts inte av easn ws dnc thane ainane seisk 18] 0:29 0°62
TIS AHIR Foca ccgonnobebnonnbicoononicopondseqpe 500 Y0K0a0s 2| 0:67 0-18
JUL MALACOZOA ......2seceessseecsceeceoees d P 5 p : 302} 0°64 0°59

Peron aecnae cadena since od] oce sles See #60 see 880 aan |Vicoc a Pie (acct wer 3 : 1} 1:00) 13 0:08

: na6Y i ; : “| “ 5) 0°07 5 1:00

Pelecypoda ..... se 7 r . 8: : 114) 0°65 128 0°89
Pteropoda ... hea i aan so ee a8 oo ae seSuliveer ate i : a 1:00
Heteropoda.. 605 oA : reated (te 9 0:00
paood obo 4 ; : b 5 0°80

a d : : i + : ; 221 0°76

138 0°91)

21 0:24

: ‘ ; 7 d . : 5036 0:09

fe ee = a ee ? 180 | 0:06

tnd fiir “ 32 302 | 0:55

Cirripedes ..........--++:-- sense = Frew Pesan ly 2c dl : : ‘ a G8)

Entomostraca . 196 O18

Malacostraca .... 40 0°17
ae Sp Wralecn\es eles a) n| 212 | 018

Pisces. SR ROOS HEE BAO OO ANGE CE RIOIOIORQBO 1000 =CON99 908500
Leptocardi, Cyclostomi et Dipnoi..
Blasmobranchii ......ce-..ceeeeeeeeeeeeeereeneenensees
Ganoidel .......ccceceneeeereeterecceccsseensereenerenens
Teleostei .... “cal

Reptilia ...........+

Batrachii .........ceeeeceeercreeseseeeees

Ophidii .......ccceeneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees

SAUTE te chentetecsccensesreserenenmanteey

Chelonii ...

0°157

1291
14761 | 0:090

1351

2414
2764

962

267 | O54 |1403
1022

267 | 0:50 }1592

0:49

ANIMALIA .....sccseeceecscsneecetesenn ees aneeecond

8 | 495
ANIMALIA et VEGETABILIA . BPE ALODOO ARON

0°54
531

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[To face p. 44.

V. Tertiary Period. All the V. Periods.
— Sse
: oe Sum
FE Ee] of | of | True
sum
[-f t Ww. | vow = | s-* | a-x |ILV
I. PLANTA.
Number of genera......... am Sp 30} 115) 53) 31 0| 237] 592| 463] 350
Number of species ........ 841 10) 136] 319] 110} 48 O | 622i... || 0 Pee
Proportion ......... = 1:+3311-25} 4°53 | 2°77 | 2°07| 1°55 0 | 2:63] 3:47| 4:44] 5°87
II. PHYTOZOA.
Number of genera......... 107. «13) 115| 134) 115] 117; 53} 5471/1283] 811| 524
Number of species ........ 35] 383] 476] 502) 412) 278 | 208q ... | ... | 4895
Proportion ......... = 1:}10} 2-69] 3°33 | 3°55 | 4:36) 3°52} 5:05 | 8149 3-81 | 6°04] 9°34
Ill. MALACOZOA.
Number of genera......... 63] 25} 199] 218] 93] 209) 146 890} 2059| 865) 473
Number of species ........ 39| 2125 | 2725) 783)1609} 642 | 728]f ... | ... 113885
Proportion ......... = 1: 1:56]/10°7 |12°5 | 8°45) 7°70) 4°40 | 8°18) 6°74 |16°1L | 29°3
IV. ENTOMOZOA.
Number of genera......... Si 2b 134) 431), 19 6 6144 981} 783} 686
Number of species ........ 12} 85} 2511381) 91 9 | 1828) ... sue | ( Bes
Proportion ......... = 1:/2113-67] 4:05} 1:87 | 3:20) 4:79] 1:50 | 2-98] 2-96| 3-68} 4°20
V. SPONDYLOZOA.
Number of genera......... Ue E78 E17 | i51) 29) “152 62711092} 801] 731
Number of species ........ 2} 367} 279! 311] 110) 488 | 1557] ... co P Se
Proportion ......... =1: 2°00} 2°06} 2°40 | 2°06) 3°79} 3:21 | 3:27] 2°47| 3°37] 3°70
VI. ANIMALIA.
Number of genera......... 513] 603] 790) 374} 357 | 26785415 | 3260] 2414
Number of species ........ 16] 87} 2960 | 3721 |2977/2222| 1417 |13384] ... ... (24366
Proportion ......... = 1:[+3]2-12) 5°77 | 6°17 | 3°77; 5°94) 3-97 | 5:00} 4:50} 7°47] 10°1
VII. ANIMALIA et
VEGETABILIA.
Number of genera......... 631 49! 543] 718] 843] 405! 357 | 291516007 | 3723) 2764
Number of species ........ 001 97) 3096 | 4040 |3087/2270! 1417 |14007] ... «a jeOmes
Proportion ......0.. = 1:968] 1-98] 5°65] 5°63 | 3°66| 5°60] 3-69 | 4:80] 4:40} 7°00] 959
Proportion of separate
Classes of Animals.
Amorphozoa ...... =1:fL, J ...-] 1:33] 1:20] 4:70} 3-00} 7°50 4°35 | 6°50} 11°60
Polypl......-..c0eees =1: 1} 3°41] 3°55 | 2°08) 4°51) 1°31 3°24 | 5°78 | 10-1
Echinodermata ... = 1: 1°86) 3°64] 4°88 | 1°80) 3°39} 4:00 8°26 |11°5 | 15°4
Brachiopoda ...... =1; 1:00} 4°33} 3°00] ... | 7°67} (4:00) 9°88 |22°0 | 39°5
Pelecypoda......... =1: 1°92) 9°16| 9°21 | 4°00] 6°54) 3°50 5°34 la | 27-7
Gasteropoda ...... = 1: 1°33}/12°0 |16°3 | 4°:27/ 8°86} 4:99 7°61 |16°9 | 30°2
Cephalopoda ...... = as 1-00) 6:00) 2°00)... | 4°00)... 12°]. \26°4 | 322
Crustacea ......... =1: ot Poe ecg 1700) 5°15) 1°50 3°32 | 4:90) 5°36
PORE sc ascaesee sees =1: 2°11] 2°57 | 1-74] 3-18} (5-00) 4°82 | 6°56] 7°61
ae = Ds 2°75 | 2°95 | 3°37/ 2°00) 2°40 217") eo 02) aan
Mammalia ......... =I1: 1°90 | 2°00 | 1°89] 6°50; 3°32 2°65:| 3°69) 3°75

IV. Review of the Numerical Proportion between the Genera and Species. [To face p. 44. f

I. Carboniferous Period.

II. Trias Period.

III. Oolite Period. IV. Cretaceous Period.

V. Tertiary Period.

——E——

I, PLANTA).

Number of genera......... 2) 121 15} 17} 176 8} 30] 115] 53] 31 0
Number of species ........ 2) 879 52) 29/101 10} 136] 319] 110} 48 0
Proportion ......... =1: 0} 2:62} 1:00] 7-24] 3-46] 1-70] 5-78 2°82 | 2:00) 1°33] 2°48 2°07] 1°55 0

II. PHYTOZOA.

Number of genera......... 122 8) 2) 144 13} 115] 134] 115] 117} 53
Number of species ........ 579} 16 35] 383} 476] 502) 412
Proportion ......... 4-74 | 2:00 4:36) 3°52) 5:05

III. MALACOZOA,
Number of genera.........

132) 66) 27) 303) 116) 101 93) 209) 146
Number of species ........ 1455] 242) 102/2332 7 39) 2125 | 2725) 783)1609) 642
Proportion ......... =i 11:0 | 3°66) 3-78) 7 8°45] 7°70) 4°40

IV. ENTOMOZOA.
Number of genera.........
Number of species ........
Proportion ......... =1:

88 2| 41) 173
256 7| 69) 382
2:91 | 3:50! 1-68

21} 134) 431) 19 6
1]} 85] 2511/1381) 91 9
3°20) 4°79) 1°50

V. SPONDYLOZOA.
Number of genera
Number of species .
Proportion ......... = il

VI. ANIMALIA.

83} 22) 23} 169 1} 178} 117) 151) 29) 152
278) 42) 60) 552 2) 367) 279] 311) 110) 488
3°35 | 1-91) 2°61 2°06) 3°79] 3°21

2°63) 3°85

N 80) 37 425] 98) 91) 789} 193) 236 790
ne Cea Exiiy°000 190) 106 2568) 307| 233)3892) 945) 934 2977|2222) 1417 |13384
Proportion ......... =1: 2°38) 2°87 6:04 | 3°14) 2°56) 4-02} 4:90) 3:95 3°77| 5°94] 3:97

VIL. ANIMALIA et

VEGETABILIA.

Number of genera......... 80) 63 886] 193] 268

Number of species ........ 195} 168 7 945) 1011

Proportion ......... 2°44) 2°67 4:90| 3:77

pecuotion of separat

asses of Animals. :
= 15) al 7 x || TEEN coo Ut oe 3-00] 4:17 | 7-83] .,. |... | 1:33| 120] 4:70] 3-00] 7-50

Sune os = 1 5, Hee 1| 3-25| 1-80] .. 1-93| 2-67 | 6-73]... | 1] 3-41) 3°55 | 2-08|451] 1:31
Echinodermata ... = 1:] 1: 2:9 2:60| 627/233]... | ... | 2°65] 3:72 | 5:56] .,, |1-86] 3:64] 4°88] 1-80 339 £00
Brachiopoda ...... =1;]13: a 08 soa | | ele/ 8:00 16:0 | 1:50) ... | ... | 762) 8°67 |17-4 | .,. | 1:00 4°33 UD a ai Ce
Pelecypoda......... =1:] 5:00] 3:83] 8:20] 5:13] 5:38] 1-75| 2-44] ... | 5°37 4-71 [106 | 4-02] 5-92] ... | 5:51] 5:26 10-2 |... [1-92] 9:16 ol 40 ee
Gasteropoda ...... =1:] 2:11] 4:32] 8-20| 8-00] 1-46] ... | 2-00] ... 13-6 4°50| 7:90| 331] 1-71 4:36] 4-03 | 7-98] ... [1-33]12-0 [163 | 4-27
Cephalopoda ...... =1:] 5:00|10-4 [30:0 [15-2 {10-0 | ... | 1-00) ... [14:3 ‘figs |21-6 | 2:60] ... | ... 146 | .,. |1-00
Crustacea .. =1:] 6-30] 7:35] 3:18] 2:31| 2:00] ... |1:50] ... |... 2| 3-38|1-00/ 4-00] ... | 228] 2-00 | 3:31

isces ....... =1:] ... | 1-40] 2:34] 3:10] 2°13 {(11°0) | 2:80] ... | 1°33 3-94) 4°27| 2-45] 4-78) ... | 3:33] 1°83 | 287
Reptilia =r alta 1:00] 2:00]1:75] ... |... 5-86| 1-83| 1-36] 1-21 (1:00
Mammalia Sie A Bae ee 1:00] 1:50] ... | a. | coe | vee

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BRONN ON PALZONTOLOGICAL STATICS. 45

I. Duration of Species.

There can be no doubt that fossil species pass from one formation
into another, from one period into the next, and in rare cases even
into a third period, if we indeed allow the present creation to rank as
a VI. period, even although half the imstances of such transitions may
depend on erroneous determinations. No further proof of this need
be required, than that the most experienced zoologists and botanists,
and even the most decided opponents of this view, Agassiz and D’Or-
bigny, after examining the original specimens adduced in proof, have
themselves unconditionally admitted it. For instances of the occur-
rence of identical species in two neighbouring formations, we will here,
to avoid prolixity, refer to the original text, where they are more
fully detailed, and confine ourselves to some of the more important
proofs. Almost every one knows certain forms of Terebratula bipli-
cata from the oolite and the chalk, which cannot be distinguished from
each other in any constant manner. HEKdward Forbes declares ex-
pressly that he has found the Terebratula caput-serpentis of the white
chalk, of the upper tertiary strata, and the present seas; and the
Echinocyamus pusillus in the eocene, miocene, pliocene strata and
living, entirely identical. Ehrenberg mentions—even after the ex-
clusion of all the tertiary strata erroneously joined to the chalk—a still
very considerable number of infusoria and foraminifera as occurring
in the chalk, in the tertiary formations and living; and D’Orbigny,
in agreement with this, declares* that he cannot distinguish the
Dentalina communis and Rotalina umbilicata of the Paris white chalk,
either from the tertiary or from the living species of the Mediterra-
nean, and in regard to the latter especially, that after the most mi-
nute comparison he cannot find any distinction. He himself quotes
five cephalopods (Ammonites latidorsatus, A. Mayoranus, A. inflatus,
Hamites armatus, Turrilites Bergeri) and three foraminifera (Den-
talina suleata, Marginulina compressa, Cristellaria rotula) in the
greensand (gault) and in the chalk (nr and /). Agassiz himself
cites Lamma elegans in t, u, v, w, Odontaspis contortidens in u, v, w,
and Cytherea (Lucina) leonina in u, v. That a great number of ter-
tiary species pass into the present creation, is not only admitted by all
paleontologists with two or three exceptions, but has also been spe-
cially proved by usin our review of Agassiz’ memoir “Sur les espéces
reputées identiques+,” and among other things by showing partly
that the specific distinctions which Agassiz adduced between speci-
mens of certain species from the two positions, and partly that the
identity of geological position which he assumed for the genuine
Cyprina Islandica in Sicily as quaternary instead of tertiary, did not
’ exist. There are tertiary and more recent strata where the number
of species that continue into the living creation amounts to 0:04—
0°20 —0:50—0°60—0-70—0-80 — 0°90 —0:95 —0-99— 1:00, with-

* Mémoires de la Société Géologique, iv. 13, 32.
tT Jahrbuch, 1846, p. 250, seg.

46 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

out any possibility of finding any determinate limit between them.
R. Owen has recognized in the English (newer-pliocene) tertiary strata
in 40 species of mammalia, 30 (=0°75) as still living. In this respect,
however, there appears an essential distinction, since only the tertiary
passes thus gradually into the existing period, whereas between all the
earlier periods some limit has hitherto been found where the number
of transition species is very small, and forms only an inconsiderable
proportion (=0°01—0°03), a circumstance which might readily lead
to the view, that a community of species, at least between different
periods, was to be wholly denied.—These species have both begun to
exist at different times within the periods, and have existed for dif-
ferent times; epochs of the synchronous origin and synchronous
perishing of an entire creation have never once oecurred.—The length
of the duration of a species is very unequal; it can, as we have seen,
extend into three or two periods, contmue for 8—5—3—2—1 for-
mations, nay even only for a portion of a formation, for one or two
of its subordinate beds. This leads us to inquire into the mean du-
ration of a species. According to the numbers in the Enumerator,
with the exclusion of species still living, there pass 7

of 2055 plants..:... 12 or 0:006
of 24,366 animals ....3322 or 0°134 species into other formations,
of 26,421 organisms . . 3334 or 0°124

a proportion that for the plants is too small, as in it the carboni-
ferous plants in the lias of the Tarentaise have not been twice enu-
merated, whilst in general it must be considered, that many species
only appear in two or more formations in consequence of erroneous
determinations,—that these cases are chiefly confined to the Amor-
phozoa, Phytozoa, Anthozoa, and Conchylie, with the Trilobites
(a+), since the other classes have been more thoroughly elaborated,
and especially among the mammalia the occurrence in two forma-
tions, chronologically distinct, almost never happens; that, if the
heads v and #, in agreement with a former observation, were cancelled
as synchronous with other formations, the most numerous instances
of transitions would disappear; whereas some species overleap one
or more formations, and hence very probably, at least in general,
must also be introduced into the intermediate members : relations,
with due regard to which the average duration of the species for in-
dividual groups may be calculated. From this it may, on the whole,
be deduced that each species has had an average duration of less than
1:12 formation, to which must also be added the very essential con-
sideration, that the occurrence in one period is not an occurrence
during this whole period, but rather, according to observations, for the
details of which space is wanting in our work, must be assumed as
much shorter on the average. Murchison and De Verneuil have also
established the view, to which we had long attained, that those
species, which possess the greatest geological duration, are also those
which have a wide geographical distribution.

BRONN ON PALZ ONTOLOGICAL STATICS, 47

II. Duration of the Genera.

There are natural genera (Sippen), which, even although they con-
tain several species, are limited to a single formation, whilst others
pass through several formations, several periods, all periods, and even
enter into the existing creation. Thus we find numbered

in different
Periods. Formations. Period. Form.

Plants the 350 genera 463, 592 times = 1: 1°32: 1-69
eines .250% fine vidas, 0415; tames =, 1: 1°34:¢ 2°17
ogether (2851 ,.i.5) ..,.d810,.,.6007 times. =,1: 1°34.;:2°1]

Among 100 genera therefore 34 pass into another period, and 100
genera of plants occur 169 times, 100 of animals 217 times, and 100
of both together 211 times in different formations (hence 69, 117,
111 times in a second or other formation). This proportion will,
however, become smaller by the elision of the formations ?/, v and
#, and be increased when we take into account that many genera oc-
cur in two formations or periods between which they are wanting
in 1—2 others, but yet probably have existed and hence must be
reckoned or supposed to exist,—excepting however those cases where
genera are unnaturally composed of heterogeneous species, so that
the older species cannot remain united in one genus with the more
recent. It is usual to suppose (with Forbes) each genus, during its
geological continuance, increasing in species to a point in time of
greatest development, and from that again decreasing to its gradual
extinction, where indeed this point in time of maximum development
does not fall in the earliest silurian or the existing period. Never-
theless though this form of development occurs in some large genera
(very small genera furnish no measure or have no form), it is not
the usual one; we rather find that in general, between the pretty
rapid or occasionally sudden increase or decrease of species, their
number in the separate formations or periods remains rather constant.
The lower families of plants and animals—which on the whole in
this and other conditions of their occurrence bear a closer relation
to each other, than the lower to the higher families of plants or
the lower to the higher families of animals—contain the genera
of longest duration; thus whilst several genera of marine alge
among the cellular plants, and the marine polyps, annelids and
especially mollusca among invertebrate animals, continue through the
whole series of formations and even into the present creation, the
genera of vascular plants, of the other entomozoa, and the whole ver-
tebrata are limited to shorter periods, so that almost all continue only
for a few periods, or mostly for one period, and those of the birds
and mammalia at the most belong only to one period and almost
always to one formation, so far as they do not pass into the present
creation. In a geologically limited class or order of organisms all
the genera must also necessarily be so (Mammalia, Choristopetale) ;
in a geologically extensive one on the contrary, either (almost) all

48 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

the genera may have the same duration (Monomya), or it may be
composed of more limited and more extended subgroups (Brachio-
pods of the Genuina and Rudistze), or again consist entirely of
limited subdivisions with lmited genera (Pteropods).

Ill. Number of the Species.

We have enumerated 2055 species of plants, 24,366 of animals,
together 26,421 fossil species, which, as already mentioned, after
excluding the synonymous species, may perhaps be reduced about
0:10, in some classes even 0°20. The fossil plants make also 0°08
of the fossil animals ; and the proportion of the fossil species to the
living is, in round numbers, in the

Fossil. Living. Fossil & living.
Plants = 2050: 70,000: 72,050= 3: 100: 103
Animals= 24,000 : 100,000 : 124,000 = 24: 100: 124

Both =26,250: 170,000 : 196,050=15: 100: 115

Whilst therefore the number of species of living animals is not much
greater than that of living plants (100: 70), that of fossil animals
surpasses the fossil plants in a much higher ratio (=100:9). But
assuredly a proportion between plants and animals so widely differ-
ent from the present has never formerly existed, since the two king-
doms generally,—in individual families, genera and even species,—
exercise so great a reciprocal influence on each other, that a great
increase or multiplication of the one kingdom is not possible without
that of the other. Itis quite certain that formerly, not only relatively
many more plants, but also many more insects, birds, soft mollusca,
&e., even more land reptiles and mammalia have existed, compared
with the conchylize, than the strata now show us, since these are
not all so well adapted for the reception and preservation of every
class of bemgs as for that of the conchylie. We have therefore
proposed the question to ourselves, whether,—presupposing the pre-
sent proportion of the separate divisions of the organic kingdoms to
each other to have prevailed so long as these divisions can be proved
to have existed—it is not possible from the number of still livmg
species to estimate that of all that have existed, whilst we calculate
from the number of preserved species in the easily preserved classes
of animals, the number of species that once existed in the difficultly
preservable classes, orders, &c. of animals and plants, from the num-
ber of parasites the number of the species on which they lived and
the reverse, on the supposition of a similar numerical proportion to
the present, from the time of the certain appearance of each of these
groups to that of its disappearance from the earth’s surface, or to the
commencement of the present period? For this purpose we must
first come to a more precise decision regarding the number of exist-
ing formations in a palzeontological point of view, and then endeavour
to furnish the proof, that the earth was actually at each time as fully
and variously peopled as at present by those classes, orders and fa-

BRONN ON PALZONTOLOGICAL STATICS. 49

milies at least, which were then in existence. In regard to forma-
tions as reciprocal paleeontological equivalents, we think it necessary
to assume for our present purpose, perhaps, the following fifteen :

al, b, c, de, fg, ikl, m, n, op, q, r, f, t, uvwx
©. IN = ZA (Die (ay We
es PSs SESSE_ SHEE &
Gre (Bie Gi ul Vem) bia 2 es eo
ee © os ee es sf Bo S Sree 8B
re ss Ss | == 4) o 5 me n
=e hye & ag =e = = n
Mmp pe & - Crs bf =o ©
So 5S e BS PF OMe Uhr, eed wo 1S
ar be ms Ss ~ .
eo td Oo i=)
= < . @ ey n
= 2 177) 8 ls ; n
hj : 3
‘ 7

Although now, as we have seen, among 100 fossil species there may
be 12 passing from one formation into another, although further an-
other large part of the fossil species may have continued during the
whole time of such a formation, yet nevertheless a much more consi-
derable number, as we already indicated, have been limited merely to
3,2, 3, 4, % part of their corresponding formation, so that even within
one and the same formation a large part of the species or organisms
has been several times changed ; and it is assuredly not too high, if we
assume, that in each of the fifteen formations just adopted (a per-
haps excepted, for which however nm furnishes more than a sufficient
compensation) the species have changed at least once, so that if some
lived throughout the whole period of a formation, others admitted
of a two- to threefold change. This change too has not taken place
synchronously for all, or even for the greater part of them, but gra-
dually, in like manner as the individuals of a species are born, some
early and others late, and perish, the one after a short, the other
after a long life; but, nevertheless, the mean duration of a generation
may be determined, as, for instance, in the human race, at thirty-
three years. ‘Thus we may also assume the mean duration, or the
mean ‘life of a species’ (although we repeat it, only on the supposi-
tion that each species once existing completely filled up at least one
of these first formation-times have we found this mean duration
=1°'12 formation) =4 the time of a formation when these are limited
to the above fifteen; we would therefore, without recognising so
many universal synchronous renewals of the entire flora and fauna,
assume the whole time of the formation of the earth’s crust as =30
changes of species, or thirty times the duration or ‘life of a species.’
Turning now to the investigation of the other question, whether the
earth during each of these ‘ lives of a species’ was as richly peopled
with species as at present,—at least in respect to those classes, or-
ders, and families which already existed,—we cannot hope to obtain
an answer by comparing the entire former flora or fauna with the
present, or by comparing the whole number of species of fossil rep-
tiles, fishes or mammalia with those now existing, but only when we
compare the fossil flora or fauna of some locality, peculiarly favour-
ably situated for the more perfect preservation of their remains, and
these collected, not out of a long series of strata, but at most from a
succession of strata corresponding to the ‘life of a species,’ with

50 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

the present flora or fauna of the same place, and from several
such local and temporary results draw conclusions regarding every
point of the earth’s surface and all the shortest intervals of time
of one ‘life of a species.’ For this purpose we will review various
formations.

a-e. For these, the oldest formations, it may suftice to refer to
our Enumerator in respect of the Plantze vasculares monocotyledo-
nez, some groups of Anthozoa, the Brachiopods, the Cephalopods,
the Trilobites, the Ganoids, and to remark that the numerous spe-
cies of most of these divisions have been made known from a small
number of localities during a period of scarcely ten years’ search, in
order to produce the conviction that the earth in that period of time
was not poorer in species of the orders of plants and animals just
named than at present.

h. The St. Cassian formation may belong to the II., or to m in
the III. period, but anyhow its series of strata bespeaks a limited
locality, a time of formation not longer than one of our ‘lives of a
species,’ and furnishes us with a sea fauna of more than 700 species of
invertebrate animals and spenges, corals, echinoderms and molluscs,
which is more than we are now able to collect from any similarly
limited space in the bottom of the sea.

m. Whilst before the Lias we could not bring together a dozen
winged insects, this yields us in England not less than four species
of Libellulinee of three different genera, on the surface of one or two
layers of a marine deposit, in a district so limited that in the same
place at present, and that too on the land (where the Libellulee live), it
would perhaps be difficult to collect with all diligence as many living
species. The larvee of these animals in the water subsist on other
larvee ; in their winged condition they are continually catching other
flying insects for food, which there can be no doubt must have for-
merly existed along with them, even although we should not now
find them. In like manner the number of ganoid fishes belonging
to the Lepidoid and Sauroid families which may be found collected
in a single point in many localities in England is very considerable ;
for the quarries of lias-shale at Lyme Regis alone have furnished 8
genera with 22 species of Elasmobranchu, and 18 genera with 49
species of ganoids (which in the whole existing creation are repre-
sented by only 4 genera and 27-30 species).

n', In the forest-marble of Calvados in the communes of Ranville,
Lue, Lebisey, and Langrune, Michelin himself has found 67 species
of polyparia and spongiarize, whilst Ehrenberg, on the coast of the
Red Sea, where one-third of all the known coral animals live, could
not collect above 120 species, and perhaps the whole Mediterranean
would not yield 67 species.

n>. In like manner, Goldfuss has described from the Upper Jura
of Streitberg 45, of Giengen 17, of Nattheim 8, of Thurnau 7 spe-
cies of spongiarize and polyparia, without mentioning those also oc-
curring in these localities, but which had been already described in
other places. For im the whole Hartmann enumerates 80 species of
polyps from Wurtemberg alone, Goldfuss and Munster 40 species of

BRONN ON PALZONTOLOGICAL STATICS. at

seyphia from Franconia and Swabia, and Miinster has left to the
Baireuth collection 130 species of polyparia, with 67 scyphia from
Franconia. All these remains are derived from the coral limestone,
a rock-section, which corresponds neither to the whole of n° nor yet
to a complete ‘ life of a species,’ nor yet can have formed the only
kind of rock of this time, since the following deposit nearly coincides
with it.

n>. One of the most important fossil localities is the Solenhofen
deposit, because it, though well-characterized in regard to its posi-
tion, is yet so peculiar in its organic remains, that it must be regarded
in its whole extent and thickness (Solenhofen, Kehlheim, Pappen-
heim, Aichstedt) as merely a local facies of another rock-formation,
and as the produce of less than one ‘life of a species’ (n°), during
which, except the gradual filling-up of the sea-bottom, scarcely any
geological change has taken place. This locality furnishes besides
many conchyliz, which also occur in n° in other localities :

Genera. Species.

hes o shesnidise wliens .esancqe bun 2 8 29
Pee ee Ort. 4 32
Hexapod insects, including 10 Libellulinee.. 12 27
Wrustacea: Decapods . . 824 31) 20 fOU00 9026 100

Temi ee. ON, ORS ] 6
Fishes (Ganoids with 4 Elasmobranchii) .. 22 94
Reptiles (Chelonians and Saurians) ...... 13 27

So great richness of various plants and animals of these divisions
could scarcely be collected in any region of the sea within a few
square leagues ; not only are the marme Algze abundant, but also
the Sepize, which are derived entirely from the genera furnished with

a shell (Schulpe), along with which shell-less species may also have
ofated Nice has only 12 genera with 22 living species, including
both those with and without a shell; 10 Libellulinay, as representa-
tives of the hexapod insects, would, in any local European fauna, form
a considerable amount, and the larger species indicate a multitude of
other flying insects. Six Limuline are as many as occur in the whole
existing creation. Nowhere have the marine crustacea been so care-
fully collected for a long time as at Nice, where Verany cannot count
above 72 (much-divided) genera with 108 species, among which are
44 genera with 72 species of decapods. It may enable us to judge
of the importance of such a number as 94 species of fish, to observe
that Risso could not bring together from the seas of Nice during
many years, taking advantage of all seasons and with the assistance of
fishermen, from the most different localities and depths, which are
entirely wanting at Solenhofen, more than 105 genera with 310 spe-
cies of marine fish of all orders. Finally, the whole of Europe would
at present scarcely furnish 13 genera with 27 species of Chelonians
and Saurians.

p- A similar relation prevails in the confined freshwater deposits
of the North-German and English Wealden formation, into which

52 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

only a few remains of marine animals have found their way. From
these we know :

In Germany. In England.
Genera. Species. Genera. Species.

| E10) RR ELSE 7” he 0 ea ing es 18 50 7 8
Doni eer iets Mee caiesi. oc: barbie taal L/ 82 15 33
GTUStBeeR nL! tate stow Aisi cee ee ee 10 2 4
Plea pod INSeCtS). 4. 6 x:5),0(8 ade cases ~~ — 48 60
BSC aie nd, ts csiiae <goks Tenet 8 14(?) 14 27
Reptiles (Chelonians and Saurians) 3 4 1] 13

In the North-German basin alone the freshwater shell Cyrena ap-
pears with 38 species, that is, 1:5 times as many species as now live
over the whole surface of the globe ; the freshwater genera Limneus,
Planorbis, Paludina, Neritina, first occur genuine. On the whole, it
would now be difficult to find a distinct basin of water with 8 genera
and 14 species, or indeed with 14 genera and 27 species of fish, or in
the limits of which 11 genera with 13 species of large reptiles of the
orders of the Chelonians and Saurians alone could be discovered, and
yet assuredly these numbers do not exhaust this very extensive basin.

f2. The limited locality of Maestricht, so peculiar for its rock-
formation, whether we leave it in the white chalk or conjoin it with
the so-called Terrain danien, does not bespeak a longer interval than
the ‘ life of a species.’ It has furnished,—besides remarkable reptiles
(Chelonians and Saurians), numerous conchyliz, crustaceans and
foraminifera,—9 genera with 19 species echinoderms, 4 genera with
8 species amorphozoa, and 11 genera with 51 species polyparie of
the groups of Anthozoa and Phytozoa, whereas Verany enumerates
for Nice only 8 genera with 23 species echinoderms (without the
Holothuriz), and no calcareous polyps [? ?].

(s)r. Besides 13 species of fucoids, we are indebted to Monte
Bolca for 71 genera with 128 species of fish, all of the order of the
Teleostei, for which at Nice only 93 genera with 270 species would
remain.

t. From the eocene deposits we would select the local freshwater
formation of Rilly, which -numbers not less than 14 genera with 39
species of non-marine (Binnen) conchyliz, among which are 8 genera
with 24 species of land conchylize, which can only have been washed
in accidentally from the bank, whereas the most careful examination
for a circuit of eight miles (4 Stunden) round Heidelberg has yielded
us only 90-100 species of non-marme conchyliz, of which perhaps
the half are more or less common, the other half rare, or confined to
small localities. Warm regions are not richer in non-marime con-
chylize than the temperate. The freshwater deposit, of about the
same age with the former, of Castelnaudary in the Aude, department
possesses, according to Marcel de Serres, the following fauna :—

Genera. Species.
Mannmaliggee ets tse in. o 5

Tepttles) emesis ect ei atl CU y oh
Non-marine conchyliz .... 7 18

BRONN ON PALZ ONTOLOGICAL STATICS. 53

of which the conchylize again are almost entirely terrestrial species,
which are distinct from the former*.

u. The miocene marine remains which Michelottit has recently
described are procured from a thick mass of grey marls round Turin,
Asti and Tortona, but which also occurs in the Piacentine country
near Basedasco’; yet, notwithstanding this very considerable extent,
it only corresponds at most to one of our ‘lives of a species,’ as it
must be placed on the parallel of u, or perhaps only of its upper
portion. During its deposition no considerable change of conditions
has taken place. Its fauna contains—

Genera. Species.

Rhizopoda (Foraminifera) . . 8 19)

er epis . oti feist Hay eh. 33 103
Pehimoderms (s2ii)s. 1.64) .» +. 8 23 |

Reiercescea) fk Meant taste el. ] kes 1712, 740
Cirripedes ...... Pies. fe 6

2 CIID or oa 1 ]

onehvliee! odo auth «ieee V7 587

Conchyliz. Cirripedes.
But now there has been enumerated by — Genera. Species. Species.
De Gerville for the coasts of the Manche
’ 28 180 9
peamtments only, seis oe ee we
Vernay at Nice, not quite ..... 7 LOG 250 9
Philippi for the Sicilian-Calabrian coasts ..... — 545, : 18

(both with the exclusion of naked and non-marine conchylie) ;
hence the Tortona beds, even in respect to the Cirripeds, of which many
are very friable or entirely without shells, have much the advantage.

u. For the middle-tertiary freshwater beds we select the two very
limited localities, situated quite close to each other, of Wiesbaden
and Hochheim, which, although they have not many species in com-
mon, yet assuredly do not fill up an entire ‘life of a species’ as we
have above defined it. From these Thoma has described Helix with
32 species, and 12 other genera of non-marine conchylize with 23
species, or together 13 genera with 55 species of land and freshwater
conchyliz. According to Al. Braun, Hochheim furnishes 57 and
Wiesbaden 22 species alone of land-shells, which together, as only 8
species are common, make 71 species. ‘The entire miocene basin of
Mayence, according to him, produces 74 species of land and 28 spe-
cies of brackish and freshwater conchyliz, together 102 species from
20 genera, or as many as we are now able to find living in this basin ;

for in it, In the Miocene time. At present.

Species. Species,
Helix has produced ...........-. 4] 32
LPT Aa aaa pie Sta al he oo 10 4
jg TAG RAE pee = 16 14
Dittomnella. 8 cto ta lane 0,2 9 1 &e.

* Jahrbuch, 1845, 4 738 5 1848, p. 637.
pp. 1-408.

54 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

On the whole the number of land-conchylize was formerly greater
and that of marsh-conchyliz smaller than at present, when we do
not include the brackish-water conchyliz (Dreissena, Littormella,
some Neritinee, Potamides). This same miocene basin has also fur-
nished to Kaup 17 genera and 32 species of land mammalia generally
large, to which H. vy. Meyer has added a considerable number of spe-
cies mostly smaller. No spot on the surface of the earth of equal ex-
es t would now, it is probable, yield so many.

. The peculiar, freshwater, molasse-marls of Oningen, in like
manner belonging merely to a small unbroken time of deposition, have

as yet furnished :
Genera. Species.

Plants according to Al. Braun* .......... 32 55
Non;marine molluses,...). 0:4. 0sfJ: =< este 00 o0
Insects according to O. Heer, first Coleoptera 70 103
Others? cod i-3o ASR oo
Freshwater fishes according to Agassiz .... 13 19
Reptiles according to H. v. “Mey er (especially
Batracinana) on borlne tet 4) -1rweb ae 6 12 16
Barts coy od “raat srcro-i9R9: 40 19889 Dat % %
Mammalia according to H. v. Meyer...... 3 4

130+x; 197+4x.

All these remains, except those of the non-marine molluses, fishes
and some reptiles, have only come accidentally ito this situation,
and hence can in no way represent the entire fauna of that time.
The Batrachians there appear more numerous and varied among the
reptiles than in any other locality im Europe, perhaps on the whole
face of the earth. Then of living freshwater fishes there were known

Genera. Species.
Hartmann in all Switzerland .... 13 44
ef in the Boden-lake .... — 36) The above is
Nau nent:Mavence ane see 10 yi 4 of this
v. Martens near Ulm .......... 10(13) 35 J amount ;

but it would be impossible to find these 4 of the species in any of
the places mentioned collected in a single (small) basin of water.
Parschlug is of the same age with Oningen, and has produced
some identical insects, mammalia, and, according to Unger, also
67 genera with 140 species of plants, of which 19 likewise occur
at Gningen. They are leaves, almost wholly of trees and shrubs,
which could not be found assembled in such variety in any existing
forest, so that Unger has been compelled to make the supposition
that they have been brought together by floods from a wide circuit,
although their state of preservation appears opposed to this view.
These examples may suffice to render it highly probable, even
although all classes, orders, and families of our system may not have
existed at all times on the surface of the earth, and although some

* Jahrbuch, 1845, p. 164.

BRONN ON PALZ, ONTOLOGICAL STATICS. do

few groups of them may have again vanished, yet that those which
then existed were at all times almost as numerously represented by
genera and species as at present ; although naturally in a systematic
point of view, greater or smaller oscillations both in a horizontal and
vertical direction were not thereby excluded, and many groups might
regularly be in reality somewhat less numerously, others also regu-
larly always more numerously represented than at present. The
objection, which some may make, that the species formerly were
more widely dispersed, and hence, though on the whole fewer might
yet be found as numerous, in one place, as we have seen above, can-
not have any essential influence on the result.

It thus appears that we may base an estimate of the number of
species which have gradually peopled the surface of the earth on the
three following propositions :—(1) There has been at least thirty times
a change of species, or there have been thirty ‘ lives of a species’ on
the globe ; (2) in each of these ‘ lives of a species’ each group of the
vegetable and animal kingdom which then existed was represented
by as numerous species and genera as at present; (3) notwithstand-
ing minute oscillations up and down of individual groups, the present
number of the species and genera of each group may be considered
as unity, as the equivalent of each ‘life of a species’ ; and these
oscillations may even be taken into account by means of an exponent
placed after the number of the existing species. We have assumed
it in the Cephalopods (but still too small) as = 100, in the entozoa
= i, because formerly there were not so many classes of animals,
and consequently their entozoa must also be wanting. We have
finally taken that of the insects as only=4, partly for similar reasons,
and partly in order that we might not, by too large an increase of
this number, which surpasses the sum of all the other species, possibly
prejudice too much the correctness of the whole. Thus we obtain
the following view of the duration and number of the various organic
beings during geological time :—

VOR. ¥.<—PART IT. nN

GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

Duration of the Groups. “ o ;
Hoy. of, 2 ;
a ee Peg es, |e |
I. Carboniferous IT. : : IV. Creta- | V. Ter-|8 '5| ad =
Period. Trias P. ITT. Oolite Period. ceous Period. |tiary Per.|5 5 B Bes a E
GH aa | >
ablb?cdefgiik1| m mmini pn nint no pl qg@rififistuw © As .
30 25 20 15 10 5
Fungi Se a et OC | ae . 8 SS ) 25 5100 4 63,750
AlGER 00. cece ee rectors ce ee enone oo. AT ASE CT A NIE TAY CS 25 1000 1 25,000
DAGHENGS es, <A crys cdae olere soe ojere sree | PA es eee | 800 4 8,000
Gelltulates foligssas.. cc. c= ose <7 » aus Joba WOE “SE Fe Cie “eke fee coe PR eR se SP Seb ee Beare let eee 8 600 1 1,800
Vasculares: Monocotyledones pic tha [te ® er eR RE A RAE AT A I SS NE ES EE LSS NT TE LI EE 27 1629 1 43,783
Phanerogamee. austen. oat 1 6 . . . AER ar rR RE FS SO EEA SIDE PE EAT ST ASTI OE AR TAR, 25 8543 1 213,576
"A By fa\-.- « de op ete Tats He Fees . ° . . . . . oalie sill 2 . ome ws — 3 2566 ] 7,098
Gorolliflovgs- fae sde vin |e + oa ETE es Se ie J ; Ace et a er: See rs re b> MNS ha as! ana) 23,900 1 71,700
Choristopetalz stave © ine Aue . . . ° eens c' oe 4 t ° . ‘ e 2 e e ° . ° . come ° ———o 3 22,528 l 67,584
Plantes, Gacnegidin, «ance Geis spots cee ns |W) ieDR toms of eM Eee foe le . ; Pe eee Se ele. Mem gue Sebo er cat on ce [et = — 519,891
PPSEUAGLO Gece clots CR ose: chanel eee clone oO | Rel bid st) chrants itis . | ‘ ° . . . . . deloe mI ° e ei 5 50 ] 250
AMOFPhO100. i, 30 250 1] 7,500
POV SAREYICA ores sion ie tice de clmm owe | TA oo eps a4 : f| p peepee ee RO few He See fe [RA St ectoaioee || 5 500 1 2,500
Polypi Foraminiferi ve ciojs «Vio clauw és || # . ee ° . ee ckmvan 's, . ° SREY SN CE TASTE ETA TLS TST ETE TE 16 1000 ] 16,000
Bryozoa et VATIENLOZOR Sit. cles ce 5 dros a NS TE a eS I ET TL BE RTS 30 810 1 24,300
Entozoa eeoererw ee eeeerwe reer eee eee ( ee SS ) 30 1500 4 11,250
CHRCDIES « «gp em Lk Ga: sere tee oes | ha te rts « tee Ho gO PO Dw ST wis yee |. gf 8} iS al 210 1 840
Echinide sie oftNe cro | # 8 . . . ee @ a re TE TET EE I LE a 22 146 1 3,212
Fistulidze aie odds cet | © . . . . Nene o “ee 0 | . . ° SS SR SA ER ETE 16 66 1 1,056
Malacozoa: Gymmacephala......--}* + © © + © eedee s ar; Pama Oe Pd Pe i er 70 1 210
Brachiopoda (el 30 48 4 5,760
Pelecypoda es al 30 2413 1] 72,390
Heteropoda cece es eeee —— re 30 23 1 690
ProtOpOda o.). .21. civre sie 30 64 l 1,920
Gasteropoda ,. 0 30 5989 1 179,670
5 DE cc Wn ee Oo Re ca teem chet wm Be ne TaeMtte | salar as 0) te ef omen 158 1 474
” Re ees law oy eer eo Oe Peles @) « ‘ . . ’ . ’ . of ( A 10 85 1 850
=i a OS OO 2441 4 16,270
Cephalopoda |. EEE 30 2 100 6,000
”> B s* ee oe . . . . . . alee = . |e eR EERSTE AR AR RP SD 20 126 1 2,520
Entomozoa: VOM ioe eee ee ee 30 770 a 15,390
CYUStOCED 2. ccc co eo |e Le 30 790 1] 23,700
Myriapoda se eeeereeat es « [> ae AOC) phen ee 8 | . > SS NR ESE SENET TT 16 200 ] 3,200
Arachnoidea. dtme cones we [or oo . gym ea SR ST A EY EE A 26 600 3 10,400
FVCXaOGa Fiirerst. opois «ies . . . eqn cern ERB EIN SE CS A AER ED SE TCD 26 65,000 3 845,000
Spondylozoa: IPISCESH . 26)< Qn ce wre ae ‘ CD 28 8000 3 149,324
VED CMA Fe «acre iti o cary m ¢ og AN SA EE LE ET A LE TS LETTS 26 1055 3 13,718
AV ER Mee tim ort: cele ve. hn Mesulee me oii ; | . : eek ks ee may. | eet I MP he 8. |eCho——— 3 7000 1 21,000
WI Syammancilo go G @ oo oon or ee ee ae ue 4 + vy se ke lt mn} 6 3 2030 1 6,090
as Ba — | 1,450,064

Animalia ee anil
Vegetabilia et AMIDA eareter elses si ee ETT PI CS RT EIEN SESE PERE EE EAE RR AE TLE LE ELL EL a ——, — 1,969,955

BRONN ON PAL ONTOLOGICAL STATICS. 57

We thus obtain in round numbers 1,500,000 species of animals,
and 500,000 of plants. By introducing more appropriate numbers
and exponents, our calculation might perhaps be here and there
amended, and thus a more correct result obtained; meanwhile it is
sufficient for us at present to have pointed out the method, accord-
iag to which we believe that such an estimate must be made; it is
enough for us to have so far obtained a general result, from which
the whole succession of the gradually originating and perishing or-
ganisms may be reckoned at two millions; and it is on the whole
indifferent at present, whether this may become, in consequence of
amended calculations, 1,000,000 or 3,000,000. On the whole, as
was stated, only half so many plants are obtained in proportion to
the animals; but in reality the commencing flora, until the appear-
ance of the second half of the Monochlamydeee, of the Corolliflore
and the Choristopetalee, the number of which is almost three times
as great as that of the lower plants, was much more uniform than
the fauna, in which, indeed, the more perfect and some other classes
in like manner also first appear along with the more perfect classes
of plants; but these perfect classes of animals make (not three, but)
only 51, the number of the imperfect classes.

Of the 2,000,000 species of organisms thus estimated as once ex-
isting, probably not 1, were adapted to leave their remains imbedded
in a recognizable condition in the strata; or chance (Zufall) at least
has not sufficiently favoured 5%, of the species for this purpose; and
of the remaining 200,000 species which we might find in the earth’s
crust, chance will again prevent a large portion from ever coming to
our knowledge.

Returning to the facts presented to us by our tables, we find that
the species are most unequally distributed m the formations and
periods :-—

Periods. 1 Bl. FIVE TY. Ve or; 3.” gy.) fit. § BVet.4 V.
Plants: species. . - . 1017 98 241 84 623 = 0°49: 0°05: 0°11: 0°04; 0°31
Animals: species. . . 4445 1091 3892 4816 13,384 = 0°16:0°04: 0°13 : 0°18: 0°48
Both: Speci@s?. ¢ . « + 5462 1189 4133 4900 14,007 = 0°18: 0°04 ; 0°14 ; 0°17 : 0°47

These inequalities are (independent of the accidental coincidence
of our researches with richer or poorer fossil-localities) partly a con-
sequence of the unequal preserving-powers of the kind of rock-mass
composing each formation either generally or for certain classes and
organisms in especial (the coal formation for plants), partly of the
wider geographical development of the species and the unequal dura-
tion of the periods, which, however, it would be difficult to find a
means of measuring, and finally, partly of the unequal richness of the
successive formations, which we indeed express in numbers, but still
are, from not knowing the value of the two previous influences, inca-
pable of so measuring as to be able to say, which period estimated
for times of equal length was the richer. We were for some moments
disposed to estimate equal duration of the periods from equality in
the numbers or quota of fossil species which passed from the first

* In the original the numbers in this column are, 0°040, 0°018, 0°017, but
evidently from a misprint.—J. N.

38 GEOLOGICAL MEMOIRS.

rock-member of one period to the first member of the next period ;
nevertheless, this depends not only on the accidental character of the
two kinds of rock, but also rests on the supposition of a uniform
proportion between the time and the causes that destroy species.
Would we lastly, without concerning ourselves about the time,
equalize the periods with each other merely in this manner, that they
should only contain an equally small number or quota of common
species, it may be again asked, whether the continuous preservation
and the relative extinction of old species forms an element better
adapted for a measure, than the appearance of new species? For
thus the cretaceous (IV.) has a larger quota of species in common
with the existing period (VI.), than any two former periods imme-
diately bordering on each other have in common, and yet no other
periods are so distinctly separated from each other as the chalk is
from the tertiary, by the above-mentioned appearance of the highest
forms of plants and animals, in the former of a part of the Mono-
chlamydecze, the Corollifloree and Choristopetale, m the latter of a
part of the fishes (osseous fishes), of the reptiles (serpents and ba-
trachians), and of the two classes of the warm-blooded vertebrata.

Were we to arrange the periods according to their absolute rich-
ness in fossil species they would stand thus :—

Acceording to the Plants’. “IVS WW, Wh Vp.
ra) ee animals > en ALR sei
A both together, II, HE Wy, LW:

The carboniferous period, from the accumulation of carbonaceous
and clayey materials in its rocks, was the most favourable for the
preservation of plants, and hence it furnishes us with quite as many
species of them as all the other periods together, though a portion
of the system, now three times the most numerous, first appears in
the last of them. The Trias period (II.) is evidently, not merely from
accident, but in reality poorer, and undoubtedly shorter and of a more
local character than the others. The Cretaceous period (LV.) con-
tains almost no rocks adapted for the preservation of plants, and in
especial entirely wants land and freshwater formations. The Oolite
period (1II.) may in this respect be designated as the true, indifferent
mean (or centre) of the periods. The Tertiary period (V.) finally is
essentially distmguished by a greater richness In organic species in
eeneral, and in animals in particular, which appears to be a conse-
quence not merely of a greater capacity in the rocks for preserving
them, nor of a probably longer continuance of the period, but of an
essentially greater richness of the time in all grades of organic forms.

We reserve some other questions for illustration on another oeca-

sion. A i

ALPHABETICAL INDEX

TO THE

PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

[The fossils referred to are described, and those of which the names are printed in
italics, are also figured. |

Alcyonites parasiticum, 319.

Alpine limestones, 171.

Alps, general structure of the, 161; cre-
taceous system of, 183; tertiary rocks
of the southern, 217; younger tertiary
rocks of, 228; dislocations in, 237;
general view of changes in, 253.

Apennines, on the chief formations of
the, 263.

Aralo-Caspian formation, 375.

Archiac, M. d’, on nummulite rocks of
Bayonne and Dax, c; on diluvial
rocks, ciii; History of the Progress
of Geology by, noticed, cx.

Artis, Mr. E. T., notice of, xxii.

Asia Minor, M. Tchihatcheff’s re-
searches in, 360.

, Mr. Hamilton’s observations on
the geology of, 862.

Atherfield, Mr. Lonsdale on zoophytes
from, 55.

Austen, Mr. R. A. C., on the occurrence
of phosphate of lime in rocks, no-
ticed, xxxii.

Australia, Dr. von Sommer on Western,
51.

Ayrshire, Mr. Moore on Silurian rocks
of, 7; Mr. Salter on fossils from, 13.

Barton Cliff, section at, 44.

Bassano, sections of the rocks near, 218,
219.

Beattenberg, section of the nummulitic
rocks at, 190. _

Beaumont, M. E. de, on mountain
systems, xcvi; Explication de la
Carte Géologique de la France, no-
ticed, cxi.

Bellerophon Duriensis, 153.

Berzelius, Baron, notice of, xxiii.

Boiavad, sections near, 368, 369.

Bolghen, altered rocks of the, 210.

Boué, Dr., onancient isothermal lines, ev.

Boulders, Mr. Smith on scratched, 17;
mode of transport from lower to
higher levels, 19, 24; notices of Mr.
Darwin on, xxviii; Mr. Smith, xxx ;

VOL. V.

Mr. Nicol, xxxii; Prof. Forchham-
mer, Cii.

Bowerbank, Mr. J. S., on a siliceous
zoophyte, 319; noticed, xxviii.

Brachiopods, Silurian, of England, cvi;
from Gothland, evii.

Brodie, Rev. P. B., notice of a Dragon-
fly and Leptolepis in the lias near
Cheltenham, 31.

Brown, Mr. R., on erect Sigillariz with
conical tap roots, 354.

Bunbury, Mr. C. J. F., on the anthra-
cite formation of Savoy, 130; notice
of, xxxviii.

Cabot, Mr. E., and M. Desor, on Nan-
tucket, 340.

Caddibuona, coal of, 288.

Calamite, Mr. Dawes on the structure
of the, 30.

Carpathian Mountains, cretaceous and
nummulitic rocks of the, 258.

Carrara marbles, altered jurassic rocks,
267.

Chambery, section near, 184.

Chamounix, fossil plants near, 132, 141.

Chat, section of the Montagne du, 181.

Cheltenham, lias near, 31.

Chillesford, Mr. Prestwich on the Crag
at, 345.

Chisma furcillatum, 98.

Choristopetalum impar, 69.

Christchurch Harbour, Mr. Prestwich
on the section at, 43.

Cleavage, Mr. D. Sharpe on slaty, 111.

Climate, on causes of change in, by Sir
J. Lubbock, 4; by Mr. Saull, 7.

Coal, Silurian, of Vallongo, 142; mio-
cene, of Caddibuona, 288; of the
Tuscan Maremma, 291, ;

Col de Balme, fossil plants from the, 132,
141,

Conis contortuplicata, 63.

Cornwall, Proceedings of Geological So-
ciety of, noticed, xc.

Crag, red, at Chillesford, Mr. Prestwich
on some fossiliferous beds above, 345.

INDEX TO THE PROCEEDINGS.

Crag, red, Mr. T. R. Thomson on the
position in which shells are found in
the, 353.

Cretaceous system of the Alps, 183; of
Austrian Alps, 214; of the Carpae
thians, 258; of Italy, 272; of Asia
Minor, 370.

Crocodilus basifissus, 381.

hasitruncatus, 381.

Cumberland, Mr. Sharpe on the areas
of elevation in, 120.

Cumberland, Mr. G., notice of, xx.

Cyathopora? elegans, 83.

Darwin, Mr., on transportal of erratic
boulders, notice of, xxvili.

Davidson, Mr., on Silurian Brachiopods
of England, cvi.

Davis, Major, on Souffriére of St. Vin-
cent, 53; notice of, xxvii.

Dawes, Mr. J. S., on the structure of
the Calamite, 30; on Halonia, no-
ticed, xxxiii.

Dawson, Mr. J. W., on colouring mat-
ter of red sandstones, 25; notice of,
XXVi, XXXIlil.

, on the gypsum of Plaister Cove,
335.

De la Beche, Sir H. T. (President), An-
niversary Address, xix. Notices of
deceased Fellows : Mr. Hailstone, xix;
Mr. G. Cumberland, xx; Dr. S. Hib-
bert Ware, xxi; Sir T. Dick Lauder,
xxii; Mr. E. T. Artis, xxii; Baron
Berzelius, xxili. Geological Society
of London; communications to, in
1848: Mr. Dawson on the colouring
matter of red sandstones, xxvi, XxXlii;
Major Davis on Souffriére of St. Vin-
cent, xxvii; Mr. Darwin on trans-
portal of erratic boulders, xxviii ; Mr.
Smith on scratched boulders, xxx ;
Mr. Nicol on recent formations near
Edinburgh, xxxii; Mr. Dawes on
Halonia, xxxili; Sir P. Egerton’s
Palichthyologic Notes, xxxiv; Mr.
Hall on supposed soft parts of an
Orthoceras, xxxv; Prof. Ramsay and
Mr. Aveline on North Wales, xxxv;
Mr. Salter on fossils of the Wenlock
shales, xxxvi; Dr. Mantell on the
Wealden, xxxvi; Mr. Lonsdale on fos-
sil zoophytes, xxxviili; Mr. Bunbury
on the anthracite formation of the Sa-
voy Alps, xxxvili; Mr. Sharpe on Si-
lurian fossils near Oporto, xlili; Prof.
Owen on saurians from the greensand
of New Jersey, xliii; Sir P. Egerton

on Platysomus, xliv; Mr. Morris on °

Neritoma, xlv; Mr. Ormerod on the
salt-field of Cheshire, xlv3; Prof.

Ramsay on Wales, xlviti; Mr. B. Jukes °

and Mr. A. Selwin on North Wales,
xlix ; Prof. Naumann on the Permian
rocks of Saxony, li; Mr. Moore on the
Silurian rocks of Wigtownshire, liii;
Dr. Gesner on the gypsum of Nova
Scotia, liv; Mr. Weston on Ridgway,
liv; Mr. Prestwich on the section
from Christchurch Harbour to Poole
Harbour, Ivi; Mr. Sharpe on the
geology of Oporto, lvii; Sir R. Mur-
chison on the geological structure of
the Alps, Apennines, and Carpathians,
lix; Mr. Weston on faults at Ridg-
way, lxvi; Mr. Ormerod on move-
ments of the rocks in Cheshire, Ixvii;
Prof. Ramsay and Mr. Aveline on
ancient disturbances of the strata in
Wales, lxvii; Prof. H. Rogers on the
structure of the Appalachians, Ixviii;
Sir R. Murchison on changes of leve.
and faults in the Alps, lxxiii;° Mr.
Sharpe on slaty cleavage, Ixxiv;
Prof. Rogers on cleavage, Ixxvii ; Mr.
Bowerbank on a siliceous zoophyte,
Ixxvili; Mr. Austen on the occur-
rence of phosphate of lime, Ixxxii;
Mr. Nesbit on phosphoric acid in
rocks, Ixxxiii; Mr. Wiggins on fossil
bones from the Crag, Ixxxiii; Mr.
Farrer on Ingleborough Cave, lxxxiv;
Mr. Saull on causes of the change of
temperature, Ixxxiv; Sir John Lub-
bock on changes in the earth’s axis of
rotation, Ixxxv. Geological Society of
Dublin: Mr. Mallet on changes in the
structure of recent shells, Ixxxix; on
geological sections, xc; Mr. M‘Adam
on cuttings in the Belfast and Bal-
lymene railway, xc; Prof. Oldham
on the drift in Wicklow, xc; Prof.
Forbes on Oldhamia, xc. Geological
Society of Cornwall: Mr. Pattison on
the coast of Cornwall, xc; Mr. Tweedy
on the rocks of Towan Head, xci;
Mr. Peach on fossils from the south-
east coast of Cornwali, xci; Mr. Pat-
tison on Devonian strata near Laun-
ceston, xci; Rev. D. Williams on vol-
canic interferences coincident with
the old red sandstone, xcii; Mr. Ed-
monds on land shells below sand-hil-
locks on the coast of Cornwall, xcii;
Mr. Garby, list of Cornish minerals,
xclii. Geological Society of Man-
chester, communications to, xciii.
Paleontological Society, publications
of, xcili. Geological Survey of the
United Kingdom, progress of, xciii.
AMuseum of Practical Geology, London,
xciv. Geological Society of France :

“M. Frapolli on gypsum, dolomite and

INDEX TO THE PROCEEDINGS.

rock-salt, xcv; M. E. de Beaumont
on the elevation of mountain systems,
xcvi; M. Favre on the Western Alps,
c; M. d’Archiac on the nummulite

. rocks of Bayonne and Dax,c; M.
Durocher on granites, c; M. Pilla on
the red ammonitiferous limestone of
Italy, ci; M. Pomel on a new fossil
pachyderm, ci; M. Tallavignes on
nummulite rocks, ci; Prof. Forch-
hammer on the action of ice, cii; Dr.
Coquand on Morocco, cii; M. Desor
on shells in the drift of New York,

_ cili; M. d’Archiac on diluvial rocks,
clii; M. Frapolli on the Terrains
meubles of Europe, ciii; M. Favre on
Chamounix, civ; Dr. Boué on ancient
isothermal lines, cv; M. Geinitz on
fossils of the German zechstein,cv; M.
Delahaye on the schists of Muse, cv;
Mr. Davidson on the Silurian Brachio-
pods of England, evi; M. de Verneuil
on Brachiopods from Gotbland, evii ;
M, Fauverge on the temperature of
the period of the coal-measures, cvii;
Prof. A. Sismonda on the Tarentaise,
cviil ; miscellaneous papers, cviil ;
M. d’Archiac’s History of the Progress
of Geology, cx. Geological notices:
MM. Dufrénoy and E. de Beaumont,
‘Explication de la Carte Géologique
de la France,’ cxi; Prof. Forbes’s
Palzontological Map of the British
Islands, exii; Mr. Hall’s Paleontology
of New York, cxii; M. Haidinger’s
Contributions of the Friends of Na-
tural History at Vienna, cxiii; on
the formation of dolomite, cxiii; M.
Morlot’s views, cxiv; M. Haidinger’s,
exvi; conclusion, cxvi,

_ Delahaye, M., on the schists of Muse,
cv.

Dent de Jaman, section of the, 182.

Desor, M., on the drift of New York,
ciii.
——, and E. Cabot, on the tertiary and
recent deposits of Nantucket, 340.
Dolomite, on the formation of, cxiii;
M. Frapolli’s views, xev; M. Morlot
on, cxiv; M. Haidinger, cxv.

Donations to the Library of the Society :
July to October 1848, 104; November
to December 1848, 154; January to
March 1849, 313; April to June
1849, 384.

D’Orbigny, M. A., award of Wollaston
Donation fund to, xviii.

Dragon-fly from the lias near Chelten-
ham, Mr. Westwood on a fossil, 32.
Dublin, Geological Society of, proceed-

ings, noticed, 1xxxix.

Dufrénoy, M., Explication de la Carte
Géologique de la France, noticed, cxi.

Durocher, M., on granites, c.

Edinburgh, Mr. Nicol on recent forma-
tions near, 20.

Egerton, Sir P., description of a new
Leptolepis, 35; Palichthyologic Notes,
noticed, xxxiv; on the affinities of
the genus Platysomus, 329; noticed,
xliv.

Eocene rocks of Italy, Sir R. Murchison
on the, 276.

Eocene of Hampshire, Mr. J. C. Moore
on freshwater shells in the, 315.

Euomphalus ? , 14.

furcatus, 15.

Farrer, Mr. J. W., on Ingleborough
Cave, 49; noticed, lxxxiv.

Fauverge, M., on the temperature of the
coal period, cvii.

Favre, M., on the Western Alps, c ; on
Chamounikx, civ.

Fiysch of Switzerland, 188.
Nummulite rocks.)

Footprints, Sir C. Lyell on recent, in
mud, 344,

Forbes, Prof. E., Paleontological Map
of British Isles, noticed, cxii.

Forchhammer, Prof., on the action of
ice on sea-coasts, cli.

France, Geological Society of, notice of
its proceedings, xcv.

Frapolli on gypsum, dolomite and rock-
salt, xcev; on the Terrains meubles of
Europe, ciii.

Galatia, Mr. Hamilton on the geology of,
362.

Galloway, Mull of, section from, to Cors-
wall Point, 9.

Garby, Mr., list of Cornish minerals,
Xciil.

Gare Loch, Mr. Smith on grooved rocks
at the, 17.

Geinitz, M., onthe fossils of the German
zechstein, cv.

Gesner, Dr., on the gypsum of Nova
Scotia, 129 ; noticed, liv.

Giant’s Mountain, on the occurrence of
fossils on the, 361, 363.

Glarus, nummulite rocks and fish slates
of, 198; inverted stratain the Canton,
246.

Gloucester, upper lias of, 31.

Gosau, cretaceous rocks of, 215.

Granite, M. Durocher on, c.

Graptolites folium, 15.

pristis, 16.

ramosus, 16.

—— tenia, 16.

tenuis, 16.

sextans, 17.

(See also

INDEX TO THE PROCEEDINGS.

Gratz, limestones of, 162.

Grinten, section of the, 205.

Gypsum, Frapolli on its formation, xev.

—— of Nova Scotia, Dr. Gesner on,
129.

of Plaister Cove, Mr. Dawson on,

335.

of Asia Minor, Mr. Hamilton on,
373.

Habkheren, section at, 212.

Haidinger, M., on the formation of do-
lomite, cxiii.

Hailstone, Mr., notice of, xix.

Hall, Mr. J., on soft parts of Orthoceras,
107 ; noticed, xxxv; Paleontology of
New York, noticed, exii.

Hamilton, Mr. W. J., observations on
the geology of Asia Minor, 362.

Hampshire, Mr. J. C. Moore on the
eocene formation of, 315.

Hengistbury Head, section at, 45.

Hibbert Ware, Dr. S., notice of, xxi.

Hyposaurus Rogersii, 382.

Iguanodon, Dr. Mantell on new remains
of, 40.

Illenus Davisii, 15.

Lusitanicus, 150.

Ingleborough Cave, Mr. Farrer on, 49.

Tnoceramus limestone, 185.

Insects, Mr. Brodie on, in the lias, 32;
Dr. Mantell on, in the Wealden, 39.

Inverted strata, at St. Orso, near Schio,
221; at Martin’s Loch, 2463 Prof.
Rogers’s theory of, 250.

Isothermal lines, Dr. Boué on ancient,
cv; of coal-measures, cvii.

Italy, Sir R. Murchison on the chief
formations of, 263; cretaceous rocks
of, 272; eocene formations of, 276;
miocene and younger tertiary of, 283.

Jukes, Mr. B., and Mr. A. Selwin, on
North Wales, noticed, xlix.

La Spezia, strata of the Gulf of, 265 ;
section at, 268.

Lauder, Sir T. Dick, notice of, xxii.

Leptolepis concentricus, 35.

Libellula dislocata, 35.

Lonsdale, Mr. W., award of Wollaston
Donation fund to, xviii.

, on fossil zoophytes, 55 ; noticed,
XXXViil.

Lubbock, Sir John, on change of climate
resulting from a change in the earth’s
axis of rotation, 4; noticed, Ixxxv.

Lyell, Sir C., on recent footprints on red
mud in Nova Scotia, 344.

M‘Adam, Mr., on cuttings in the Belfast
railway, xc.

‘¢ Macigno Alpin” of Studer, 188.

Macrosaurus levis, 382.

Mallet, Mr., on the structure of recent

shells, 1xxxix ; on geological sections,
RG

Manchester, Geological Society of, no-
ticed, xciil.

Mantell, Dr. G. A., on the organic re-
mains of the Wealden, 37; noticed,
XXXvi.

Maremma, rocks of the Tuscan, 270;
coal-beds of, 291.

Martin’s Loch, inverted strata of, 246.

Molasse of Switzerland, 228.

Monte Bolca, age of its deposits, 225.

Monte Massi, rocks near, 293.

Moore, Mr. J. C., on the Silurian rocks
of Wigtonshire, 7 ; noticed, liii.

, on the occurrence of eocene fresh-
water shells in Hampshire, 315.

Morris, Mr. J., on Neritoma, 332; no-
ticed, xlv.

Mosasaurus Maximiliani, 382.

Mountain systems, M. E, de Beaumont
on elevation of, xcvi.

Murchison, Sir R. J., on the origin of
the term Permian, 1.

, on the geological structure of the
Alps, Apennines and Carpathians,
157 ; noticed, lix, lxxiii.

Murchisonia sealaris, 14.

Museum of Practical Geology, noticed,
XClV.

Nagelfiuhe of Switzerland, 228.

Nantucket, M. Desor and E. Cabot on
the recent formations of, 340.

Naumann, Prof., on the development of
the Permian system in Saxony, 1] ;
noticed, li.

Neocomian of the Alps, 183.

Neritoma sinuosa, 334.

bisinuata, 334.

Nesbit, Mr., on phosphoric acid in
rocks, noticed, Ixxviii.

Nicol, Mr. J., on recent formations in
the vicinity of Edinburgh, 20.

Nova Scotia, Mr. Dawson on red sand-
stones in, 25.

Nummulite rocks, of Bayonne and Dax,
c; of Southern France, ci; of Switzer-
land, 188; of Einsiedeln, 196; of
Glarus, 198; of the Grisons and Ap-
penzell, 199; of the Voralberg. and
Allgau, 202; of Sonthofen, 208; of
Italy, 283; Sir R. Murchison’s views
of their age, 299; list of fossils of, ha-
ving a wide geographical range, 309.

of Asia Minor, 371.

Nuinmulites, table of synonyms of,
193 note.

(Eningen, freshwater deposits of, 233.

Oldham, Prof., on the drift in Wick-
low, xc.

Oldhamia, Prof. Forbes on, xc.

INDEX TO THE PROCEEDINGS.

Oolite of the Alps, 178.

Oporto, Mr. Sharpe on the geology of
the neighbourhood of, 142.

Ormerod, Mr., on the red sandstone of
Cheshire, noticed, xlv, lxvii.

Orthis confinis, 15.

Duriensis, 152.

Lusitanica, 152.

Noctilio, 151.

Miniensis, 152.

Orthoceras vagans, 153.

Oschatz, section in the Permian system
at, 3.

Owen, Prof., on saurians from the
greensand of New Jersey, 380; no-
ticed, xliii.

Palzontological Society, noticed, xciii.

Pattison, Mr., on the coast of Cornwall,
xc; on Devonian strata near Laun-
ceston, xci.

Peach, Mr., on fossils from Cornwall, xci.

Pentland Hills, Mr. Nicol on boulders
found on the, 23.

Permian, Sir R. I. Murchison on the
origin of the term, 1.

system in Saxony, Prof. Naumann
on its development, 1.

Petit Coeur, section at, 174.

Pilla, M., on the red ammonitiferous
limestone of Italy, ci.

Platysomus, Sir Philip Egerton on the
affinities of the genus, 329.

Platysomus macrurus, 329.

Pleurotomaria Moorei, 14.

Pomel, M.,on a new fossil pachyderm, ci.

Pontus, Mr. Hamilton on the geology
of, 362.

Poole Harbour, Mr. Prestwich on a sec-
tion at, 43.

Prestwich, Mr. J., award of Wollaston
medal to, xvii.

, on the section from Christchurch
Harbour to Poole Harbour, 433; no-
ticed, lvi.

——, on some fossiliferous beds above
the red crag at Chillesford, near Or-
ford, Suffolk, 345.

Ramsay, Prof., and Mr. Aveline, on
Wales, noticed, xxxv, xlviii, Ixvii.

Report, Annual General, for 1849, i.

——, Museum and Library, iii.

Reptiles, Prof. Owen on fossil, from
New Jersey, 380.

Ridgway, Mr. Weston’s further obser-
vations on the geology of, 317.

Rigi, section of the, 195.

Rogers, Prof. H., on the structure of
the Appalachians, 130; noticed, lxviii,
lxxvii; theory of inverted strata, 250.

Ryan, Loch, geology of, 11; fossils
from, 13.

Sabine hills, section of the, 281.

Salt, rock, in Asia Minor, 373.

Salter, Mr. J. W., on fossils from the
Stincher river and Loch Ryan, 13;
on fossils of the lower Wenlock shales,
noticed, xxxvi.

Sandstones, causes of their red colour, 25.

Sardinia, Silurian rocks of, 264.

Saull, Mr. W. D., on changes of tem-
perature and the levels of the oceani¢
waters, 7; noticed, lxxxiv.

Savoy, fossil plants from the anthracite
formation of, Mr. Bunbury on, 130;
Sir R. Murchison on, 174.

Saxony, Prof. Naumannon the Permian
system in, l.

Schio, inverted strata near, 221.

Scratched boulders, Mr. Smith of Jor-
dan Hill, on, 17.

Setti Communi, rocks of the, 224.

Sewen, section at, 193.

Sewer-kalk, 185.

Sharpe, Mr. D., on the geology of Oporto
and the Silurian slates and coal of
Vallongo, 142; noticed, xliii, lvii.

, on slaty cleavage, 111; noticed,
xxiv.

——, on Tylostoma, 376.

Sigillaria alternans, stump of, 355.

Sigillariz with conical tap roots, 354.

Silicification, Mr. Bowerbank on the
mode of, 321.

Silurian rocks of Wigtonshire, Mr. J.
€. Moore on the, 7.

of Sardinia, 264.

Silurian slates and coal of Vallongo,
Mr. Sharpe on the, 142.

Siphodictyum gracile, 94.

Sismonda, Prof. A., on the Tarentaise,
evlii.

Slate-pencil rock, 115.

Smith, Mr. James, of Jordan Hill, on
scratched boulders, 17.

Solenhofen, freshwater formations near,
234,

Sommer, Dr., on Western Australia, 51.

Sonthofen iron-mines, 203.

Souffriére of St. Vincent, Major Davis
on the, 53.

Stincher river, fossils from the, 13.

St. Vincent, Major Davis on the Souf-
friére of, 53.

Survey, Geological, of Great Britain and
Ireland, noticed, xciii.

Tallavignes, M., on nummulite rocks, ci.

Tarentaise, Mr. Bunbury on fossil plants
from the, 130.

Tatra mountains, section of the, 259.

Tchihatcheff, M. P. de, notice of his re-
searches in Asia Minor, 360.

Thomson, Mr. T. G. R., on the position

INDEX TO THE PROCEEDINGS.

in which shells are found in the red
crag, 353.

Thones, section at, 186.

Trias of South Tyrol, 164; of Recoaro,
167.

Tweedy, Mr., on Towan Head, xci.

Tylostoma, a proposed genus of gastero-
podous mollusks, Mr. D. Sharpe on,
376.

Tylostoma Torrubia, 378.

punctatum, 378.

globosum, 379.

ovatum, 379.

Tyrol, trias of South, 164.

Vallongo, Mr. Sharpe on the Silurian
slates and coal of, 145.

Verneuil, M. de, on Brachiopods from
Gothland, cvii.

Vicentine, tertiary rocks of the, 217.

Vienna, Contributions of the Friends of
Natural Science at, noticed, cxiii.

Wallenstadt, section near, 200.

Wealden, Dr. Mantell on the organic
remains of the, 37.

Weston, Mr., further observations on
the geology of Ridgway, 317; no-
ticed, liv, lxvi.

Wiggins, Mr., on fossil bones from the
Crag, noticed, 1xxxiii.

Wigtonshire, Mr. J. C. Moore on the
Silurian rocks of, 7; Mr. Salter on
fossils from, 13;

Williams, Rev. D., on volcanic inter-
ferences, xcii.

Wollaston Medal and Donation fund,
xvii.

Zoophytes, Mr. Lonsdale on fossil, 55 ;
Mr. Bowerbank on a siliceous, 319.

THE END.

PRINTED BY RICHARD AND JOHN E. TAYLOR,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.

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